Choco Up has secured a US$15 million credit facility from private credit firm AlteriQ Global to expand financing for Singapore SMEs. The first drawdown has been completed. The facility is expected to provide growth and working capital financing to about 500 Singapore businesses. Choco Up recorded an 85% year-on-year increase in financing applications from Singapore SMEs, with artificial intelligence (AI) and technology-related investments becoming more common funding use cases. Percy Hung Founder and CEO Percy Hung said, “This partnership strengthens our ability to support entrepreneurs with financing solutions that help them act on opportunities with greater confidence and speed. It also reinforces our commitment to supporting the next phase of growth for Singapore’s SME community.” The company has disbursed more than S$100 million to Singapore businesses since entering the market. Zhi Yong Heng AlteriQ Global Managing Director Zhi Yong Heng said, “SMEs remain one of the strongest drivers of innovation, employment, and economic activity, yet many continue to face challenges accessing capital that aligns with their growth journey. We believe Choco Up has built a strong platform with a clear understanding of SME financing needs.”     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by noob via Magnific The post Choco Up Secures US$15 Million Credit Facility for SME Financing appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Stablecoins have the potential to transform cross-border payments by improving speed, efficiency, and reducing costs. However, a new whitepaper from Saber, a stablecoin-native infrastructure company, reveals that while these integrations show promises in pilots, they frequently fail when scaling to production volumes in Asia. The primary hurdles include intricate multi-party connections, critical failure modes that only surface under real load, and a fragmented regulatory landscape. The paper, released in early June, looks at Asia’s diverse cross-border payment corridors, highlighting how stablecoins can theoretically eliminate friction in cross-border payments, while exposing the severe limits and challenges of current implementations. Complex integration According to the paper, the core challenge lies in connecting diverse intermediaries, including banks, liquidity providers, off-ramps, and compliance systems that operate inconsistently across markets. Each of these entities has its own tech stack, data structure, compliance rules, and assumptions about how things should work. Even within the same country, requirements can vary depending on the banking channel or flow type. Furthermore, pilots often hide scale-related issues because early implementations look great when volumes are low, masking the operational messiness that emerges at production levels. As a result, companies may mistakenly believe they have achieved success when they have only proven that a few transactions can work once. Another challenge outlined in the paper is that error handling requirements are routinely underestimated. This is because teams fail to account for timeouts, partial successes, reconciliation gaps, and partner-specific failure patterns that only appear in production environments. Finally, the paper notes that for high-volume operators, integration never ends. Every new corridor requires a new set of partners to vet, connect, monitor, and defend against regulatory and operational shocks, a strategy that frequently transforms into a resource-draining loop of perpetual maintenance. Regulatory fragmentation Beyond technical hurdles, the paper stresses that the regulatory landscape in Asia presents a unique complexity. The region is home to a fragmented and complex regulatory landscape, comprising 48 distinct regulatory regimes, each with asymmetric compliance rules, localized identity verification mandates, and evolving “travel rule” structures. Stablecoin regulation is far from uniform and varies by market with each country’s stance reflecting how regulators balance monetary control, consumer protection, and payment innovation. For advanced markets like Singapore, Hong Kong, and the Philippines, regulators clearly define who can issue, custody, on-ramp, off-ramp, and distribute stablecoins, while in more restrictive markets like India and Vietnam, regulators often limit activity to offshore or bank-mediated models. Additionally, foreign exchange (FX) and capital controls vary wildly. Countries with free or lightly managed capital flows like Singapore allow smoother conversion, while markets with strong capital controls like Vietnam, Indonesia and India tightly govern how and when stablecoins can be converted into local currency. These regulators are also unpredictable. Shifts can occur rapidly, causing smaller partners to pause operations, block flows, or exit corridors entirely. Local partners with deep relationships tend to handle these transitions better. Stablecoin regulations in key Asian markets, Source: Stablecoin Strategy for Asia 2026, Saber, Jun 2026 Pillars for success To address these challenges, Saber proposes four pillars for success. First, the paper emphasizes the need for structural cost efficiency. This involves designing for permanent cost reduction rather than premium dependence, since premiums appear in certain corridors or time windows but remain temporary. Premiums represent the difference between global USD pricing and the local fiat value received at conversion. Consequently, unit economics should focus on shorter prefunding cycles, fewer opaque middlemen, and predictable execution. Second, it advocates for local partnerships by working with deeply embedded entities who can operate through regulatory change, bank behavior shifts, and operational stress. It stresses that Asia lacks a unified payments or compliance framework, implying that execution must always happen inside local licensing and banking boundaries. Third, it recommends proper corridor liquidity management where liquidity is treated as corridor-specific rather than global. Each corridor possesses its own market depth, timing windows, counterparty availability, and risk profile. Exposure should be monitored continuously and dynamically rebalanced, and hardcoding pricing or routing assumptions should be avoided. Finally, the infrastructure should be built with a flow orchestration control layer, prioritizing coordinated control rather than just settlement speed. This layer should enable real-time visibility, enforce consistent policy, reroute flows when conditions change, and absorb partner-specific failures so clients see one stable system. A prominent remittance hub Asia is a leading global remittance hub. In 2024, remittance flows to low and middle-income countries hit roughly US$680 billion, with Asia capturing the lion’s share. India alone pulled in US$129 billion, or 19% of that amount; China, US$48 billion (7%); the Philippines, US$40 billion (6%); and Pakistan, US$33 billion (5%). Asia remittance inflows by country, Source: Stablecoin Strategy for Asia 2026, Saber, Jun 2026 To tap into this opportunity, a thriving ecosystem of stablecoin payment players has emerged over the past few years. It encompasses global and local issuers, infrastructure providers, on/off ramps, liquidity providers, institutional custody firms, and compliance and risk vendors. Asia’s cross-border stablecoin ecosystem, Source: Stablecoin Strategy for Asia 2026, Saber, Jun 2026 Stablecoins have become one of the fastest-growing payment infrastructure in the world. In 2025, these digital currencies processed US$28 trillion in real economic value like payments, remittances and settlement, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 133% since 2023, according to blockchain data platform Chainalysis. If this baseline growth continues with no additional catalysts, the firm projects volumes could hit US$719 trillion by 2035. Projected adjusted stablecoin transaction volume 2023-2035, Source: Chainalysis, Apr 2026   Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by thanyakij-12 via Magnific The post Despite Promises, Stablecoin Cross-Border Integrations Fail to Scale in Asia appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Singapore investment platform Arki Finance has received a Capital Markets Services licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore ahead of its planned public launch later this year. The licence allows Arki to provide regulated investment advisory and portfolio management services to individual investors in Singapore. The company plans to launch with a cash income offering before adding income and growth portfolios for Singapore’s mass affluent market. Established in 2024 as Arche Asset Management, Arki was co-founded by David Ng, who has more than 20 years of global asset management experience. Ng previously worked at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley. He also served as group chief operating officer of CSOP Asset Management in Singapore, where he helped oversee an increase in assets under management from US$3.7 billion to more than US$15 billion, according to Arki. Former UOB Kay Hian senior executive director Esmond Choo will chair Arki’s board. Its advisory board includes former Lion Global Investors chief executive Gerard Lee, who previously worked at GIC and Temasek, and Rimmo Jolly, a former Asia Pacific head of iShares at BlackRock. Arki aims to offer investors another option beyond bank deposits and insurance products.     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by freepik via Magnific   The post Arki Finance Gets MAS Licence to Offer Investment Services in Singapore appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Agentic payments are having a moment, and honestly, where do we even start? It has been hard to avoid the topic lately, partly because some of the biggest names in the industry are starting to bring agents closer to checkout. OpenAI has introduced Instant Checkout inside ChatGPT, Google with its Agent Payments Protocol, while Visa and Mastercard have also entered the space with Visa Intelligent Commerce and Mastercard Agent Pay. Not in a boring way, to be fair. There is something genuinely interesting about the idea of a personal robot shopper that can understand what you want and eventually press pay on your behalf. Still, every time the industry talks about making payments more automated, the conversation somehow finds its way back to the same word. Trust. We saw a version of this when AI first entered banks and financial institutions, when the early excitement around what the technology could do quickly ran into a more practical question. How much control are people actually willing to hand over? Agentic payments seem to be moving through a similar cycle, only this time the stakes feel more personal. Asking AI to recommend a hotel for your next trip feels harmless enough. Letting an AI shopping agent spend your money is another matter. Adeline Kim, the newly appointed Group Country Manager, Regional Southeast Asia & SVP, Global Clients & Acquirers, Asia Pacific at Visa, sees that distinction as central to the next stage of AI-driven commerce. Singapore consumers are clearly not strangers to AI either, with a Visa-commissioned study finding that close to 77% of residents use generative AI tools and 8 in 10 rely on AI assistance when shopping online. People are already bringing AI into the shopping journey, but I have to really ask, do you trust someone else, or in this case, something else, with your money? And Adeline seems to agree with my curiosity. She said: “There is a big difference between using AI to search for a product and allowing an AI agent to act on your behalf when money is involved.” The Agent Should Not Have a Blank Cheque Once an AI agent gets close to the wallet, the concern becomes fairly straightforward. How much freedom should it actually have? Adeline Kim “An AI agent should not have open-ended authority to spend,” Adeline answered directly, meaning that consumer consent, in other words, cannot be vague. The agent needs to have clear boundaries, including how much it can spend and when it needs to check back with the person behind the purchase. She believes that agentic payments work best when the AI agent has a narrow, well-defined job. It may be able to handle a routine purchase within a set budget, but anything unusual should trigger a pause, an extra check or a request for confirmation. “Agents can act at speed, but consumers and issuers should remain in control at key decision points,” Adeline pointed out, adding that faster checkout only works when the agent still knows when to stop and ask. What If the Agent Recommends What It Was Paid to Recommend? Agentic payments also raise a different kind of trust issue, and honestly, it is one I did not think about at first. When an AI agent recommends a product, why did it pick that one? Did it match what the consumer wanted? Was it genuinely the better option? Or did a commercial arrangement play a role? Adeline said transparency will matter here because users have the right to know whether a recommendation reflects their preferences or someone else’s incentive. If money or a partnership influenced the recommendation, the consumer should be able to see that in plain language. Most of us can live with ads when they look like ads. A recommendation feels different when it comes dressed up as neutral advice, especially if money has shaped the suggestion behind the scenes. “Once people feel an agent is not acting in their interests, adoption will slow very quickly,” Adeline cautioned. Mistakes Will Happen, So Resolution Has to Be Clear Even with controls in place, AI agents may still get things wrong. They may misunderstand a consumer’s instruction, buy the wrong item or repeat a purchase. They may also choose a merchant that looked right to the system but was not what the consumer intended. Lionel Grosclaude, CEO of Fime, put this problem in simple terms in a separate interview. An agent could be asked to buy blue shoes and return with a red pair instead. Annoying, yes, but not necessarily serious. The stakes change when the purchase carries health or safety consequences. A missed allergy warning, for example, may still leave behind a transaction that looks valid in the system. The harm, however, sits with the person who trusted the agent. @fintechnewsnetwork What If AI Makes a Bad Purchase For You? AI can already shop and pay on your behalf. But what happens when it buys something you never wanted, or worse, something that puts you at risk? fintech AI payments ♬ original sound – Fintech News Network – Fintech News Network To answer that worry, Adeline said the industry should be realistic about mistakes. “As commerce becomes more autonomous, it is realistic to expect that AI agents may sometimes make mistakes, just as people do today,” she said. “What matters is that the consumer is not left on their own when that happens.” Visa sees accountability and traceability as central to agentic payments because a valid-looking transaction may still need to be questioned if the agent acted outside the consumer’s intent. Trusted agent-initiated transactions should still sit within established payment protections, including dispute and chargeback frameworks, so consumers have a clear route to resolution when something goes wrong. Traceability matters because the transaction journey becomes more complex once an AI agent is involved. The industry needs to know whether the agent followed what the consumer actually asked for. A wrong purchase cannot simply be brushed aside with “the AI did it.” Someone still has to help the consumer make it right. Fraudsters May Start Fooling the Agent, Not Just the Shopper Scammers will not ignore agentic payments, and they will likely adapt quickly. Many scams today try to fool people through convincing-looking storefronts or checkout flows. Agentic commerce could shift part of that target to the AI shopping agent acting on behalf of the consumer. Fraudsters may start designing storefronts or checkout flows that look trustworthy to a machine, even if a human shopper might question them. Adeline warned that fraudsters will always look for the weakest point in any new technology. Agentic commerce, therefore, needs trust on both sides of the transaction. Merchants need to know whether an AI agent is legitimate and acting on behalf of a real, authenticated consumer. AI agents also need to recognise which merchants and checkout flows they can trust. Fraud prevention still needs layers, but the people affected by it should not feel shut out of the process. Adeline pointed to tokenisation, authentication checks, behavioural intelligence and real-time risk scoring as part of the broader defence. The scale of the risk also changes. One shopper may make one bad payment, but a compromised AI shopping agent could trigger multiple transactions quickly if the controls are weak. Adeline said Visa has used AI to protect the payments ecosystem for more than 30 years, analysing over 200 billion transactions a year and 500 data elements in every transaction to help stop fraud in real time. Real-time detection becomes even more important once agents can act quickly. Unusual purchase volume, unfamiliar spending patterns or abnormal agent behaviour should prompt additional checks before the problem spreads. No single company can secure agentic payments alone because the bank, merchant, payment network and AI platform each see different parts of the transaction journey. Trust, in this case, has to be a team effort. Personalisation Is Useful, Until It Starts Feeling Creepy Agentic commerce also raises a privacy question that feels very personal very quickly. An AI agent can only be useful if it understands enough about the consumer, such as their preferences and usual spending habits. But we cannot ask for personalisation and then pretend there is no privacy trade-off. Adeline emphasised that agentic commerce will only work if people trust how their data is being used. The more personal the experience becomes, the clearer the limits around access and permission need to be. The industry also needs to avoid a free-for-all where every party in the transaction gets more information than it needs. The agent may need context, but not everyone needs the full picture. Adeline captured the balance well. “The promise of agentic commerce is personalisation, but with boundaries,” she said. “Consumers should feel that AI understands their preferences, not that they are being watched.” A useful assistant should feel helpful. Once it starts feeling like surveillance with a checkout button, trust becomes much harder to earn. Not Everyone Cares If AI Goes That Far All the excitement around agentic payments can make the industry forget who it is ultimately trying to serve. Yes, some consumers will find it useful if an AI agent can handle a routine purchase without much fuss. But older users or those less comfortable with digital tools may not care for that level of automation, especially when money is involved. Adeline stressed that innovation only matters if people can use it confidently and safely, which means the experience has to be clear enough for consumers to understand what they are authorising and how to change or revoke permission when they need to. “The aim should not be to push everyone into automation,” she said. “It should be to give people more confidence, more control and more choice.” Agentic payments could still become part of everyday commerce, but only if the industry avoids treating every consumer as equally ready for AI to act on their behalf. Giving people “more confidence, more control and more choice” may sound simple, but it is probably the part that will decide how far agentic payments can really go.  After all, there is no AI when you spell out trust, but there is “us”, the humans who still need to stay in control when AI gets closer to our money. Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore based on an image by topntp26 via Magnific. The post What Visa Says Has to Happen Before AI Gets Near Your Wallet appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Salesforce will acquire customer service AI company Fin for about US$3.6 billion as it expands its Agentforce platform. The deal is subject to customary purchase price adjustments and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of Salesforce’s 2027 financial year, pending regulatory clearances and other closing conditions. Fin, formerly known as Intercom, provides an AI agent that resolves customer enquiries across live chat, email, WhatsApp, SMS, phone and Slack. The technology uses Apex, Fin’s proprietary AI model developed specifically for customer support. Fin’s packaged products and proprietary models will complement Agentforce, Salesforce’s platform for deploying autonomous AI agents. The acquisition is expected to give businesses more ways to introduce AI agents into their customer service operations. Fin offers faster deployment options, particularly for smaller businesses and some commercial organisations, while Agentforce supports more tailored enterprise-scale implementations. Fin cited customer examples in which its AI agents resolved an average of 76% of support volume from start to finish. The company has a global customer base of more than 30,000 businesses. Marc Benioff Salesforce Chair and CEO Marc Benioff said, “Fin brings proven agent technology, a deep commitment to customer success, and an incredible AI team that will complement Agentforce with powerful service agent capabilities. Together, we’ll help companies of every size seize this opportunity — accelerating time to value with trusted agents that deliver measurable outcomes at scale.” Eoghan McCabe Fin CEO and Co-Founder Eoghan McCabe said, “Our technology has defined this category and set the new standards for what great customer service looks like today. By joining forces with Salesforce, we can deploy it far and wide at a rate far faster than we could have ever achieved on our own.” Agentforce reached US$1.2 billion in annual recurring revenue in the first quarter of Salesforce’s 2027 financial year, up 205% from a year earlier. Based on the expected closing date, Salesforce does not expect the deal to affect its fiscal 2027 guidance or capital return programme.     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by ismode via Magnific The post Salesforce to Acquire Fin for US$3.6 Billion to Expand AI Agent Offerings appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Singapore will introduce an over-the-counter gold clearing system and central bank vaulting services as it strengthens its role in Asia’s gold market. Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong announced the measures at the Asia-Pacific Precious Metals Conference on 15 June 2026. Singapore Exchange will establish the clearing system for Loco Singapore by the end of 2026, with interbank trading expected to build from 2027. The system will support large gold bars and kilobars, helping market participants clear and settle transactions more efficiently during Asian trading hours. DBS, Deutsche Bank, ICBC Standard Bank, J.P. Morgan, OCBC and UOB will sign an agreement with SGX to participate as clearing members and support trading and price discovery. MAS to Offer Gold Vaulting Services The Monetary Authority of Singapore will begin offering gold vaulting services to foreign central banks and sovereign entities by October 2026. The service will complement more than 2,000 tonnes of commercial storage capacity already available in Singapore. MAS will also extend gold accounts to selected Singapore-based bullion banks, enabling them to provide liquidity and related services to foreign central banks and sovereign entities. SGX is separately exploring a physically deliverable gold futures contract, while banks are studying the use of tokenised gold. MAS will also remove the 5% cap on physical investment precious metals under tax incentive schemes for funds. The change will give eligible funds and family offices more flexibility to invest in physical gold, with further details expected by September 2026. Asia accounts for roughly 70% of annual consumer gold demand, but much of the market’s trading, liquidity and price discovery remains concentrated in London and New York. Singapore aims to complement these established centres by supporting gold trading, settlement and storage during Asian hours.     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by ttonaorh via Magnific The post Singapore to Launch Gold Clearing System, Central Bank Vaulting Services appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Nuvei will pursue a US$2.75 billion acquisition of Payoneer, combining two payments businesses focused on local and cross-border commerce. Under the agreement, Nuvei will buy all issued and outstanding common shares of Payoneer Global Inc. for US$7.40 per share in cash. The combined company is expected to generate about US$3 billion in annual revenue and process more than US$500 billion in annual payment volume. It is also expected to serve more than 2.4 million customers. The deal would expand Nuvei’s services for businesses that need to accept, hold and move money across markets. The combined platform will cover more than 190 countries and territories, with services including payment acceptance, payouts, multi-currency accounts, card issuing, treasury, foreign exchange and embedded financial services. Payoneer adds cross-border payout capabilities, multi-currency accounts and a banking network that supports same-day and real-time settlement in more than 150 markets. The platform is expected to support businesses selling through digital commerce platforms such as Amazon, eBay, Walmart, Airbnb, Fiverr, Upwork, Etsy, ByteDance, Shopify and WooCommerce. Payoneer also has licences and authorisations across several markets. These include licensing for online payment services in mainland China and authorisation in principle as a cross-border payment aggregator in India under the Reserve Bank of India’s framework. The acquisition would also support newer payment models, including stablecoin payments, agentic commerce and platform-based financial services. Phil Fayer Phil Fayer, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Nuvei, said, “The acquisition of Payoneer marks a defining step in Nuvei’s evolution into a global financial infrastructure leader. By combining complementary capabilities, we can offer businesses a more complete platform to accept payments, send funds, issue cards, manage treasury and FX needs, and access embedded financial services – at scale.” John Caplan John Caplan, Chief Executive Officer of Payoneer, said, “For two decades, Payoneer has earned the trust of millions of businesses in markets where trust takes years to build. We have transformed our business with extraordinary results, and our combination with Nuvei will extend what we can offer customers.”     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by smartmalik6384 via Magnific The post Nuvei to Acquire Payoneer in US$2.75 Billion Payments Deal appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

LSEG Workspace now provides access to the newly launched LSEG Sustainability Ratings and Data. The new suite of ESG scores and sustainability analytics is designed to provide actionable sustainability insights to global financial markets through enhanced transparency, comparability and analytical value. This next-generation data solution simplifies the complex landscape of sustainability reporting, regulation and investor needs that is all in one integrated experience inside Workspace. The new ESG Scores, available across multiple LSEG platforms, are built on a research-driven methodology aligned with leading global sustainability frameworks and regulations such as ISSB, GRI, SASB and ESRS. Built on more than 25 years of LSEG and FTSE Russell expertise, LSEG Sustainability Ratings and Data combines standardised sustainability data, ESG materiality assessments, and dynamic ESG scores. The suite is designed to deliver a comprehensive view of corporate sustainability performance. Inside LSEG’s Sustainability Dataset The dataset covers more than 16,000 companies, 1M+ fixed income instruments, and includes 240+ standardised metrics based on 2,000+ underlying data points. The enhanced model uses a sustainability-first materiality matrix combining a redesigned industry classification with a double materiality approach at a business-segment level. It also provides transparent scores on a scale of 0, not aware, to 5, leading. The scores measure companies’ management of material ESG risks and opportunities across 12 Themes, providing decision-useful sustainability insights for a wide range of financial workflows. The new framework introduces threshold-based scoring, capped metrics and performance analytics, rewarding companies that implement strategic ESG initiatives and show verifiable sustainability progress. For deeper insight, Sustainability Ratings and Data also includes an optional ‘Plus’ layer. This incorporates controversies, sovereign ESG risk and positive environmental impact signals such as green revenues and sustainable financing. Explore the full capabilities of LSEG Sustainability Ratings and Data in Workspace here.      Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by thanyakij-12 via Magnific The post LSEG Workspace Adds Sustainability Ratings and Data for ESG Analysis appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

ING has trimmed its holding in TMBThanachart Bank through a share buyback, lowering its stake in the Thai bank from 23.1% to 19.5%. The move was made through TMBThanachart Bank’s latest share buyback programme and will bring ING about €243 million in gross proceeds, based on current exchange rates. ING framed the sale as part of its efforts to manage capital and review its investment portfolio. The Dutch bank will remain a significant shareholder in TMBThanachart Bank and continues to maintain a longstanding partnership with the lender. The transaction is not expected to have a material impact on ING’s profit and loss account, shareholders’ equity or capital ratios. ING became a shareholder through its earlier involvement in TMB Bank, which later merged with Thanachart Bank to form TMBThanachart Bank.     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by ttb The post ING Cuts Stake in Thailand’s TMBThanachart Bank to 19.5% appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Singapore will roll out an updated framework for Single Family Offices (SFOs) on 15 June 2026, streamlining exemptions while enhancing regulatory monitoring. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said the changes will give qualifying SFOs a simpler process to establish operations in the country. Under the framework, eligible SFOs will not need to apply for a licence. They will instead need to notify MAS of their operations, maintain an account with a MAS-licensed bank and file a basic annual return. The annual return will include information on total assets under management and the name of the SFO’s bank. The structure-agnostic framework allows eligible SFOs to use a straight-through class exemption regardless of how they are set up. The changes follow an earlier public consultation. MAS published its policy responses to industry feedback in November 2024 and incorporated sector input into the final framework. Existing SFOs operating in Singapore will have a one-year transition period to meet the new requirements and must comply by 15 June 2027.   Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by MAS   The post Existing Single Family Offices Get One Year to Meet New MAS Rules appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Supply chain finance technology provider Veefin has appointed Riddhi Dutta as Chief Revenue Officer as the company looks to expand its revenue strategy across international markets. In the role, Riddhi will oversee Veefin’s global revenue plans, including sales, marketing, customer relationships, partnerships and go-to-market operations. He brings more than two decades of experience in enterprise technology, digital banking and financial services transformation. His work has covered markets across Asia Pacific, India and the Middle East. Riddhi previously served as Vice President for Asia at Backbase, where he worked on commercial expansion across ASEAN and South Asia. He also worked with financial institutions across the region on digital banking projects focused on customer experience and operational modernisation. Veefin said his experience in scaling regional teams and working with financial institutions will support the company’s next phase of growth.     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by Lanfira via Magnific The post Veefin Names Former Backbase Executive Riddhi Dutta as Chief Revenue Officer appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Allianz SE is leading the race to buy HSBC’s Singapore insurance business as the bank weighs a potential sale of the unit, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Allianz is now ahead of the remaining suitors for HSBC Life Singapore Pte. HSBC has been reviewing the unit as part of a wider push to simplify its business. The bank is said to have sought a valuation of up to US$2 billion. No agreement has been reached, and the sale process could still change. Other bidders remain interested. HSBC said the unit remains under strategic review and that no decision has been made. The bank added that Singapore remains important to its wealth and wholesale banking strategy. Allianz declined to comment. HSBC bought AXA Singapore for US$529 million in 2022 under former CEO Noel Quinn. Under current CEO Georges Elhedery, HSBC has been cutting jobs, reducing management layers and reassessing parts of the group. Allianz was among the final bidders for the business, alongside Sumitomo Life Insurance and Dai-ichi Life Group. Sun Life Financial and Nippon Life Insurance had also previously been linked to the process. A deal would give Allianz another route to expand in Singapore after its earlier attempt to buy a majority stake in Income Insurance was withdrawn in 2024. That proposed transaction was valued at about S$2.2 billion.     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by HSBC The post Allianz Reportedly Leads Race to Acquire HSBC Life Singapore appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Think about the last time something did not go as planned, like dropping your phone and cracking the screen, experiencing an accident during a holiday, or encountering severe weather that forced a change of plans. Not too long ago, many of us would have chalked these moments up to bad luck and moved on. But as the cost of living continues to rise, absorbing the financial impact of life’s unexpected moments has become increasingly difficult. The very nature of earning a living has also changed. Millions now drive, deliver, freelance, and sell online, piecing together flexible careers that look nothing like the nine-to-five jobs of a generation ago. Across Southeast Asia, growing numbers of workers earn income on a daily, weekly, or project basis, with earnings that can fluctuate significantly from month to month. These careers offer flexibility and opportunity, but they do not always come with the protections traditionally associated with full-time employment. As work has become more fluid, so too have the risks people face. A missed week of work due to illness or injury, an unexpected accident, or a sudden loss of income can have an outsized financial impact on individuals without adequate protection. Too often, the people powering the digital economy are among those most exposed to financial shocks. This shift matters because the protection needs of today’s workforce rarely fit neatly into traditional models. A delivery rider working flexible hours, a freelancer juggling multiple projects, an online seller managing seasonal demand, and a salaried employee may all face different combinations of risks and financial obligations. Their protection needs are rarely identical, yet many protection models continue to assume a one-size-fits-all approach. At the same time, access is not solely an affordability issue. Even individuals with the means to purchase coverage may be discouraged by complex application processes or the effort required to obtain it.  Bridging this gap requires protection to become second nature, woven into the products and services people already use.  Why Embedded Insurance Is Gaining Ground Source: rawpixel.com by Magnific As technology advances, consumers have come to expect everything to be instant, seamless, and a tap away. We book transport, settle bills, and order dinner in seconds. Protection should be no different. While traditional insurance continues to play an important role in safeguarding major life, health, and financial risks, not every protection need requires a lengthy application process. If consumers had to complete extensive forms every time they wanted protection for a specific purchase, trip, or transaction, many would simply go without it. By reducing friction and making protection easier to access, embedded insurance is helping narrow longstanding protection gaps. Enabled by advances in technology and digital ecosystems, coverage can now be offered at the point of need, often through a simple opt-in experience and at a cost that can be measured in loose change rather than monthly commitments. Rather than requiring large upfront payments, embedded protection can be distributed through the platforms people already rely on, either as a complimentary benefit funded by businesses or purchased at a cost low enough to fit naturally within everyday transactions.  Instead of navigating lengthy forms, consumers may simply be offered protection through a tick box at checkout, while gig workers may receive coverage sponsored by the platforms they depend on. In both cases, protection becomes easier to access at the moment it is needed most. For many, this creates a more accessible pathway to protection without becoming an additional financial burden.  Why the Market Is Paying Attention Source: family31 via Magnific While consumer understanding of embedded protection is still evolving, adoption is growing steadily. More people are accessing protection through the digital platforms they use every day, whether when booking a trip, making a purchase, securing a loan, or earning an income. In many cases, consumers may not recognise it as embedded insurance at all. They simply experience it as a more accessible and relevant form of protection. The market has taken notice. Across the region, insurers, technology platforms, and businesses are increasingly exploring ways to integrate protection directly into customer journeys. At the same time, investors are paying close attention to the opportunity. Long-term institutional capital, including sovereign investors, is increasingly backing companies that have demonstrated an ability to distribute protection at scale through digital ecosystems. PolicyStreet’s journey reflects some of these broader market developments. Over the years, we have worked with insurers, platforms, and businesses to embed protection across mobility, delivery, e-commerce, and financial services ecosystems, reaching more than 10 million customers across the region. More recently, we welcomed the support of a second sovereign wealth fund as part of the first close of our Series C fundraising round. To us, this reflects growing confidence not only in PolicyStreet, but also in the long-term potential of embedded insurance to close protection gaps at scale.  When investors with multi-decade investment horizons commit capital to businesses operating in this space, it signals confidence not only in individual companies but also in the long-term trajectory of the market itself. The conversation has moved beyond whether embedded protection works. Increasingly, the focus is on how quickly it can scale and how many protection gaps it can help close.  Felt, Not Seen: Why Trust Matters More Than Ever Source: rabbimitpark via Magnific Yet making protection more accessible is only part of the equation. As embedded protection becomes more commonplace, the industry’s next challenge will be ensuring that consumers understand what they are covered for, when they are covered, and how to access support when they need it. After all, staying out of sight should never come at the expense of transparency. If consumers do not understand how protection works, they may not realise they are covered, know when they are eligible to make a claim, or fully appreciate the value being provided. Over time, that risks undermining trust in the very model designed to expand access. The future of embedded insurance will therefore depend not only on seamless technology and distribution, but also on clear communication and customer education. The goal is not to hide protection from consumers, but to remove unnecessary friction while ensuring that support remains easy to understand and access. Protection is becoming more integrated into everyday life, but it must become more trusted at the same time. The companies that succeed will be those that strike the right balance between convenience, transparency, and trust. Across Asia, flexible work and digital commerce are becoming the norm rather than the exception. As they continue to reshape how people earn, spend, and live, protection must evolve alongside them. The future of insurance may be hidden in plain sight, but its value should be tangible. The post How Online Commerce and Flexible Work Are Reshaping the Future of Insurance Protection appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Behind the glow of a Telegram chat window, a victim lured by a fake job offer and trafficked into a Southeast Asian scam compound is coerced under violence, running romance scams against strangers half a world away. The wallet collecting the proceeds lies on a public blockchain, and this is just one of the many Southeast Asia crypto scams happening today. This is also one of the uncomfortable intersections Chainalysis maps out in its 2026 Crypto Crime Report. Its data indicates that cryptocurrency flows to suspected human trafficking services reached hundreds of millions of dollars in 2025, an 85% YoY growth. The growth is tracked to the expansion of Southeast Asia’s illicit ecosystem. It’s the very region where scam compounds, online casinos and gambling sites, and Chinese-language money-laundering and guarantee networks, operating primarily over Telegram, feed off each other in an accelerating regional underworld with global reach. A Human-Trafficking/Crypto Trade That Runs Like a Business Chainalysis tracked four categories of suspected cryptocurrency-facilitated trafficking: Telegram-based “international escort” services suspected of trafficking in people, “labour placement” agents that facilitate kidnapping and forced labour for scam compounds, suspected exploitative prostitution networks, and vendors of child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Source: Chainalysis Escort and Prostitution Networks Run Almost Entirely on Stablecoins Nearly half (48.8%) of transfers linked to “international escort” services exceeded US$10,000, a concentration the report says points to organised criminal enterprises operating at scale. “International escort” services and prostitution networks operated on an almost exclusive level via stablecoins. This seemed to suggest that they emphasised payment stability and ease of conversion over the risks of these assets being frozen by centralised issuers. Services were found to be closely tied to Chinese-language money laundering networks, which rapidly enable the conversion of USD stablecoins into local currencies. In doing so, these entities potentially blunt the risk that assets held in stablecoins might be frozen, the report indicated. Scam Compound Recruitment Leaves a Traceable Trail “Labour placement” agent scam operations, especially pig butchering schemes, are deeply intertwined with human trafficking. Victims are lured with fraudulent job offers, then trafficked to scam compounds across Southeast Asia, where they are forced to run romance and investment scams under the threat of violence. Blockchain analysis reveals that recruitment payments typically fall between $1,000 and $10,000, consistent with advertised pricing tiers. This creates identifiable transaction patterns that can be used to detect suspicious activity at scale. These agents also spread their presence across multiple guarantee platforms to maximise reach, with some operating through mainstream cryptocurrency exchanges. CSAM Vendors Turn to Monero and Instant Exchangers Child sexual abuse material vendors, meanwhile, had a tendency to collect payments in mainstream cryptocurrencies. Chainalysis observed that they started using Monero more to launder their proceeds. Instant exchangers, services that allow fast, anonymous crypto swaps with no KYC checks, became a key tool in this process. SEA Trafficking Networks Go Global on Cryptocurrency In 2025, mapping where “international escort” services operate shows that Southeast Asian services, particularly those run in the Chinese language, have expanded worldwide by using cryptocurrency. Based on Chainalysis’ data, Chinese-language services operating across mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and several Southeast Asian countries have built advanced payment systems and a wide international presence. Source: Chainalysis Large-scale cryptocurrency transactions come in from countries like Brazil, the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, and Australia. The wide range of countries involved suggests these networks have built the infrastructure needed to operate on a global scale.” As blockchain technology is transparent by nature, this makes it a useful tool for detecting and stopping these activities. Compliance teams and law enforcement can watch for certain warning signs for Southeast Asia crypto scams, such as high-volume transactions through guarantee platforms, wallet clusters linked to multiple types of illicit services, recurring patterns of converting funds to stablecoins, and connections to Telegram channels used for recruitment. Featured image edited by Fintech News Singapore based on an image by kues1 on Magnific The post Crypto Flows to Suspected Human Trafficking Surge 85% YoY, Chainalysis finds appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Pine Labs has introduced a payment protocol that lets AI agents complete UPI transactions when pre-set conditions are met. The Pine Labs Payment Protocol, or P3P, is now live and is designed for agentic commerce, where AI agents can act on instructions set by users. Current UPI payments still require users to approve transactions at checkout, which can interrupt agent-led purchases. With P3P, a consumer approves a UPI mandate upfront. An AI agent can then complete a payment later if the transaction stays within the approved limits and conditions. This could be used for purchases where timing matters, such as buying digital gold when prices fall or securing a product when it reaches a target price. Pine Labs said users remain in control of the mandate and can update or revoke it at any time. The protocol also includes controls for agent identity, spending limits and audit trails. Gullak, a digital gold savings platform in India, is live on P3P. A Gullak user can set a rule to buy ₹500 of gold if the price falls below ₹16,000 per gram. Once the user approves the mandate, the AI agent can complete the purchase when the condition is met. Pine Labs is also working with other companies across retail, fintech and travel. Vijay Sales, an Indian electronics retail chain with more than 150 stores, is in an active proof of concept with P3P. The protocol could allow customers to set price-based buying rules for items such as smartphones or home appliances. Amrish Rau Pine Labs CEO Amrish Rau said, “In India, UPI’s mandate framework was already architected for agentic commerce. P3P is that layer. An agent securing a flash sale the moment it goes live. A down payment locked in before inventory disappears. A savings trigger at the right price. These are new behaviours, native to how India transacts. Pine Labs is building the commerce infrastructure for that world.” P3P is currently live on UPI. Pine Labs is also working with major card networks to extend the protocol to card transactions.     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by Design-Marjolein via Magnific   The post Pine Labs Brings AI Agent Payments to India’s UPI appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Bizcap Singapore has launched the Bizcap Frequent Funders (BFF) Program, a new partner loyalty initiative designed to reward high-performing brokers and referral partners with exclusive incentives and luxury experiences as they achieve funding milestones. The launch follows Bizcap’s successful first year in Singapore, where the non-bank lender recently celebrated its one-year anniversary and increased its lending limit to S$1 million, enabling it to support businesses with larger funding requirements The BFF program has been created to recognise and reward partners who consistently help Singapore SMEs access the capital they need to grow. Through a tiered rewards structure, brokers and partners who reach quarterly funding milestones will unlock premium experiences and exclusive rewards. Accredited partners are automatically enrolled in the program, with no registration required. The program includes three reward tiers: Bronze status: Fund $300,000 or more within a quarterly period and receive a reward valued at $888 Silver status: Fund $600,000 or more within a quarterly period and receive a reward valued at $1,888 Gold status: Fund $1 million or more within a quarterly period and receive a reward valued at $3,888 Joseph Lim, Bizcap’s Managing Partner for Asia, said the initiative reinforces the company’s commitment to recognising and investing in its third-party distribution network.  Joseph Lim “The BFF program reflects our commitment to rewarding the partners who consistently deliver outstanding outcomes for Singapore SMEs. As a lender, we believe strong partnerships deserve meaningful recognition, and this program provides an opportunity to celebrate loyalty, performance and shared success through exclusive rewards and experiences,” he said. “SMEs are incredibly diverse, and their funding needs are rarely one-size-fits-all. We want Bizcap to be the first choice when businesses require fast, flexible capital, and partners play a critical role in making that happen. By rewarding high-performing partners, we’re encouraging greater reach into the SME community and helping more businesses access the funding solutions they need to thrive. “Our intermediary channel remains a key pillar of our growth strategy across Asia. We are committed to continuing to invest in our distribution network, and the BFF Program is another example of how we’re supporting partners who help drive value for their clients and for the wider SME ecosystem.” Gareth Tan, General Manager at Bizcap Singapore, said the program was designed to create a more rewarding partnership experience. Gareth Tan “At Bizcap, we’re always looking for ways to deliver a differentiated experience for our partners. The BFF program is our way of giving back to the brokers and referral partners who choose to work with us, while creating memorable experiences that reflect the value we place on those relationships. We want every interaction with Bizcap to feel rewarding, and this program takes that commitment one step further.” The launch of the BFF program marks the latest milestone in Bizcap’s growth journey in Singapore, building on the lender’s strong first year in market and continued investment in supporting both partners and SMEs with accessible funding solutions. Existing partners can contact their Bizcap relationship manager to learn more about the BFF program, while new brokers can find out more about partnering with Bizcap here.      Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by alionaursu via Magnific The post Bizcap Singapore Launches BFF Program to Recognise High-performing Partners appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Bottomline has launched a CFO Suite that links treasury, payments and finance workflows as companies look for more control over cash flow and AI use. The modular platform brings together treasury cash forecasting, invoice processing, outbound payments, collections, dunning and cash application across the cash lifecycle. The suite is designed to help CFOs improve visibility over cash, working capital and risk while applying AI within controlled finance workflows. Bottomline CFO Suite is powered by the company’s BEA Agentic Platform, which it describes as a finance-first AI orchestration engine that works within existing finance workflows. The suite connects payment data, bank activity, invoices, ERP data and finance workflows into a single operational view. This is intended to help finance teams track cash as it moves through the business, improve forecasting, prioritise work and manage exceptions. Craig Saks Craig Saks, CEO of Bottomline, said, “Finance leaders are being asked to move faster, manage risk more tightly, and show where AI can create value, but they are often doing that with disconnected systems and delayed data. Bottomline’s CFO Suite is designed to close that gap by connecting the workflows that determine cash, working capital, and risk, while giving teams a controlled way to apply AI inside the processes they already rely on.” The suite supports cash forecasting, invoice processing, payments, collections and cash application. It also uses AI to support classification, data extraction, anomaly detection and payment matching. Colin Swain Colin Swain, Global Head of Product Solutions at Bottomline, said, “For CFOs, using AI in finance is only as useful as the data behind it, and only as trusted as the controls around it. Using the BEA Agentic Platform, Bottomline’s CFO Suite applies AI in a way that supports measurable outcomes, while keeping the auditability, explainability, and oversight finance teams rely on to trust the result.” The CFO Suite is available as a modular offering, allowing organisations to start with one priority area in treasury, accounts payable, accounts receivable or payments before expanding over time.     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by mdsahazahan via Magnific   The post Bottomline Launches CFO Suite to Address Cash Flow Gaps appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Adyen has agreed to acquire Orb in a US$335 million deal that will add enterprise billing capabilities to its payments platform. The transaction will be funded entirely from Adyen’s available cash resources and remains subject to customary closing conditions. Upon completion, Orb will become an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Adyen. Orb’s co-founders will reinvest a meaningful portion of their proceeds into newly issued ordinary shares in Adyen. Founded in 2021 and based in San Francisco, Orb helps enterprises manage real-time usage data and complex pricing contracts. Its customers include Vercel, Glean, Replit and Supabase. Adyen plans to connect Orb’s billing infrastructure with its payments and risk systems. The company expects this to help merchants link pricing decisions with payment performance, fraud risk and transaction success rates. Adyen will manage Orb under an incubator model during the first phase of the acquisition. Orb will continue to support multi-payment service provider environments. Over time, Adyen plans to bring billing and payments into a more unified infrastructure for enterprise merchants. Ingo Uytdehaage Ingo Uytdehaage, Co-CEO of Adyen, said, “The structural complexity of modern billing has become the kind of infrastructure problem Adyen is built to take on. Helping customers optimise beyond the transaction itself has been an important part of our long-term direction, and recent moves have expanded our role further into the enterprise monetisation stack. Combining Orb’s billing product with Adyen’s payments platform closes the loop between what merchants charge and how those charges perform, enabling merchants to automate smarter revenue decisions in real time.” Alvaro Morales Alvaro Morales, CEO of Orb, said, “We built our architecture to process complex consumption logic at the event level, giving merchants total flexibility over their pricing frameworks. By joining forces with Adyen, we can connect this ingestion layer directly to real-time financial health signals, closing the loop between billing logic and payment success.” Adyen expects the Orb acquisition and its proposed acquisition of Talon.One to close on 1 July 2026, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by muravev via Magnific The post Adyen to Acquire Orb for US$335 Million in Enterprise Billing Push appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

RippleX has launched the XRPL AI Starter Kit, a set of tools for developers building agentic payment applications on the XRP Ledger. The Ripple developer arm focuses on tools and infrastructure for the XRP Ledger ecosystem. The starter kit is aimed at AI agents that can make transactions, pay for services and settle value without direct human input. The first phase includes documentation, tools and integrations to help developers discover, learn and build agent-powered applications on XRPL. It also supports X402-powered payments using XRP and Ripple USD, or RLUSD, allowing AI agents to pay for API calls, AI model inference, compute and other digital services. XRPL Targets Agentic Payment Use Cases The launch comes as AI agents begin handling tasks that require payments and settlement, creating demand for infrastructure with fast settlement, predictable costs and automated transaction flows. The XRP Ledger settles transactions in around three to five seconds and supports predictable fees, native payments, multi-currency transactions and a built-in decentralised exchange. The starter kit includes an XRPL Docs MCP Server for MCP-compatible clients such as Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor and custom agent frameworks. It also includes the XRPL Agent Wallet Skill and XRPL Payment Skill for Claude, covering wallet creation, balance checks, payments and transaction tracking. Developers can access new guides on xrpl.org, including a tutorial for completing an agentic transaction and a reference hub for building agentic payment flows. Future phases of the starter kit are expected to be shaped by developer feedback and emerging agentic payment use cases.     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on images by nampix and zidan4ek via Magnific The post RippleX Targets AI Agent Payments With New XRPL Developer Kit appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

RippleX has launched the XRPL AI Starter Kit, a set of tools for developers building agentic payment applications on the XRP Ledger. The Ripple developer arm focuses on tools and infrastructure for the XRP Ledger ecosystem. The starter kit is aimed at AI agents that can make transactions, pay for services and settle value without direct human input. The first phase includes documentation, tools and integrations to help developers discover, learn and build agent-powered applications on XRPL. It also supports X402-powered payments using XRP and Ripple USD, or RLUSD, allowing AI agents to pay for API calls, AI model inference, compute and other digital services. XRPL Targets Agentic Payment Use Cases The launch comes as AI agents begin handling tasks that require payments and settlement, creating demand for infrastructure with fast settlement, predictable costs and automated transaction flows. The XRP Ledger settles transactions in around three to five seconds and supports predictable fees, native payments, multi-currency transactions and a built-in decentralised exchange. The starter kit includes an XRPL Docs MCP Server for MCP-compatible clients such as Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor and custom agent frameworks. It also includes the XRPL Agent Wallet Skill and XRPL Payment Skill for Claude, covering wallet creation, balance checks, payments and transaction tracking. Developers can access new guides on xrpl.org, including a tutorial for completing an agentic transaction and a reference hub for building agentic payment flows. Future phases of the starter kit are expected to be shaped by developer feedback and emerging agentic payment use cases.     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on images by nampix and zidan4ek via Magnific The post RippleX Targets AI Agent Payments With New XRPL Developer Kit appeared first on Fintech Singapore.