The Singapore High Court has issued a notice to seize shares held by Capital A subsidiary Move Digital in digital wallet operator BigPay and logistics firm Teleport, the Edge Malaysia said. The enforcement action aims to recover a US$14.7 million (RM59.85 million) arbitration award owed to BigPay co-founders Christopher Davison and Navin Rajagopalan, as reported by The Edge Malaysia. The order mandates the seizure of Move Digital’s 99.56% stake in BigPay alongside its 11.45% stake in Teleport. This development highlights the strict enforcement capabilities within Singapore’s legal framework for fintech disputes resolved through arbitration, impacting regional corporate structures. The conflict traces back to 2021 when the co-founders initiated arbitration under the Singapore International Arbitration Centre. They alleged minority oppression, wrongful termination, and a breach of agreements after AirAsia Digital (now Move Digital) cancelled its 2017 shareholder agreements. While the founders initially sought a buyout between US$140 million and US$183 million, the arbitration tribunal issued a partial award in December 2024. The tribunal directed the Capital A unit to buy out their minority shares for the much lower figure of US$14.7 million, according to The Edge Malaysia. Move Digital prepares legal response The current court order also covers unpaid interest on legal cost orders related to the Singapore enforcement proceedings. Move Digital stated that it intends to file a written objection, maintaining that it has legitimate grounds to challenge the asset seizure. BigPay remains a key digital financial service component for Capital A. In May 2026, the parent company advanced RM24.13 million to the fintech firm to support its ongoing operations and financial management. Meanwhile, Teleport serves as the largest revenue driver for Capital A, generating RM308.65 million in the first quarter of 2026. Despite the legal action, Capital A shares closed higher on Tuesday (9 June), raising its market capitalisation to RM1.86 billion.     Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by somemeans via Magnific The post Singapore Court Orders Seizure of Capital A Stakes in BigPay and Teleport appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

AI is getting better at helping us shop. The next step is much bigger: making payments on our behalf. That sounds convenient, but it also raises some important questions. Who is really in control? What happens when an AI agent makes a mistake? And how can banks, merchants, and regulators trust transactions that are no longer initiated directly by humans? In this episode, Lionel Grosclaude, CEO of Fime, joins Fintech News Network to discuss the rise of agentic commerce and why trust may become the most important layer in AI-driven payments. The conversation explores Fime’s recently launched FACT (Framework for Agentic Commerce Trust), a neutral trust layer designed to help verify, monitor, and govern autonomous transactions. What Lionel shares his thoughts on in this conversation: Why agentic commerce is moving from concept to reality The trust gap emerging as AI agents begin making payments How the FACT Framework works Why independent oversight matters in AI-driven commerce The difference between one-time checks and continuous verification How banks and merchants can handle disputes involving AI agents The role regulators and central banks may play in governing autonomous transactions Why businesses should start preparing for agentic commerce now The post Agentic Commerce and the Trust Problem Nobody Has Solved appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

HSBC has tested B2B agentic commerce transactions in Singapore with Mastercard as banks look for new ways to automate business payments. The pilot was completed on 29 May 2026 and involved a multinational corporate buyer, Singapore-based procurement platform SourceSage and e-commerce supplier FortyTwo. The transaction was built on Mastercard Agent Pay and used tokenised payments, merchant discovery and referral capabilities. The proof of concept shows how digital agents could help businesses manage purchasing and payments with controls, transparency and risk management built into the process. HSBC framed the pilot as part of its wider push to support payment ecosystems through Global Payments Solutions, including commercial cards and digital merchant acquiring. The bank is looking to connect buyers, procurement platforms and suppliers through payment, liquidity and reconciliation services. Winnie Yap Winnie Yap, Head of Global Payments Solutions, HSBC Singapore, said: “This pilot demonstrates how B2B transactions, can be executed end-to-end with control, transparency and risk management from the start. In Singapore, where many businesses centralise regional procurement and treasury, we are seeing strong demand for solutions that connect buyers, platforms and suppliers seamlessly across payments, liquidity and reconciliation.” Minsook Cho Minsook Cho, Country Manager, Singapore, Mastercard, said, “For businesses in Singapore managing procurement and payments across the region, complexity has always been the challenge. Agentic commerce, when powered by Mastercard and delivered with HSBC, addresses this directly — and this pilot establishes that the building blocks are in place. Scaling this requires partners who bring both the institutional depth and the appetite to do things differently, and that is what working with HSBC has demonstrated.” HSBC has also expanded its Digital Merchant Services to India and Singapore, following an earlier rollout in Hong Kong. The service allows digital merchants and marketplaces to accept cards, digital wallets and real-time transfers through a single contract and interface. It supports 14 payment methods across the three markets. The agentic commerce pilot used Juspay’s technology stack, extending HSBC’s existing Digital Merchant Services partnership with the payments infrastructure company. HSBC and Mastercard have also launched HSBC’s first mobile virtual cards for corporate customers in Singapore. The cards allow businesses to set spending limits, apply usage rules and assign cards to specific teams, suppliers or projects. The cards can be used at physical point-of-sale terminals, as well as for in-app and online purchases. HSBC Mobile Virtual Card will be available to Singapore-based corporate clients by end-June 2026.     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by jamesteoh1976 via Magnific The post HSBC Pilots B2B Agentic Payments in Singapore with Mastercard appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

yuu Rewards Club members in Singapore can now convert their points into Max Miles under an expanded partnership with HeyMax. Under the new arrangement, yuu members can convert points at a ratio of 3.6 yuu Points to 1 Max Mile. HeyMax said this allows members to earn up to 10 miles per dollar. The feature gives members another redemption option through HeyMax’s network of more than 20 airline and hotel loyalty programmes. The move builds on the existing partnership between both companies, which already allows HeyMax users to convert Max Miles into yuu Points at a ratio of 1:3. HeyMax is expanding its loyalty and travel partner network across Asia Pacific. Joe Lu Joe Lu, Co-Founder and CEO of HeyMax said, “At HeyMax, our mission has always been to make aspirational travel more accessible to everyone. Partnering with yuu Rewards Club is a natural next step. For the first time, yuu members can convert their everyday points into a reward currency that opens the door to a whole world of travel opportunities.” yuu Rewards Club members earn points across supermarkets, convenience stores, pharmacies and other lifestyle merchants in Singapore. Lee Yik Hun Lee Yik Hun, Head of Commercial at yuu Rewards Club, said, “With leisure travel increasingly becoming a priority for Singapore residents, this expanded partnership with HeyMax gives yuu members greater flexibility to convert their points into flights or hotel stays, extending the benefits of everyday spending into overseas travel.”       The post yuu Points Can Now Be Converted to Max Miles Under HeyMax Partnership appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

OpenWay and Visa are working together to help banks, processors and fintechs in Asia Pacific bring new payment products to market faster. The collaboration will support selected Visa payment products on OpenWay’s Way4 platform, which is used for card issuing, digital wallets, merchant acquiring, real-time payments and other payment services. Earlier coordination between Visa and OpenWay on selected product requirements and implementation frameworks could simplify rollouts and reduce deployment work. Way4 can be deployed on premises, in the cloud, through dedicated SaaS or in hybrid models. The collaboration builds on recent Visa payment products supported on Way4, including Visa Flexible Credential and Visa Fleet 2.0. Visa Flexible Credential lets cardholders access multiple funding sources through one credential, while Visa Fleet 2.0 supports fleet-related payment use cases. More Visa products and services are expected to be added under the same framework. Rudy Gunawan Rudy Gunawan, Managing Director of OpenWay Asia, said, “Asia Pacific continues to lead global payment innovation, and banks are looking for ways to deliver new customer propositions faster and more efficiently. Our collaboration with Visa strengthens our ability to support financial institutions with faster implementation of new payment capabilities on Way4.”     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by ghiska via Magnific The post OpenWay, Visa Work to Speed Up Payment Product Launches for APAC Banks appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Backbase is bringing Mastercard Move into its Banking OS as banks look for faster ways to launch cross-border payment services. The integration gives Backbase customers access to Mastercard’s global money movement capabilities through a pre-built connector, reducing the need for custom integration work. The collaboration is aimed at helping financial institutions roll out international payment services more quickly, while managing the payment flow from customer initiation to settlement and reconciliation. Mayank Somaiya Mayank Somaiya, Global Vice President and Head of Ecosystem Partnerships at Backbase, said, “The Backbase Ecosystem extends the AI-native Banking OS with best-of-breed capabilities across payments, fraud management, open banking, dispute management, and end-to-end banking services. With Mastercard Move accessible directly through the Banking OS, banks can deliver trusted international payments within the same digital journeys their customers already use – competing with digital-first and non-traditional players on experience, pricing, transparency, and speed.” The integration will initially focus on the European Union, Middle East and North Africa, targeting banks that are looking to improve their cross-border payment capabilities. Mastercard Move supports money movement across more than 200 countries and territories, connects more than 17 billion endpoints, and supports transactions in 150 currencies. Pratik Khowala Pratik Khowala, Global Head of Transfer Solutions, Mastercard, said, “By making Mastercard Move available through the Backbase AI-native Banking OS, we’re accelerating banks’ ability to bring cross-border services to market. This collaboration helps financial institutions deploy trusted, transparent international payments faster and with far less complexity.” The pre-built connector is now available to Backbase customers through a pre-integrated setup, with support for planning, technical assessment and delivery guidance.     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by smartmalik6384 via Magnific The post Backbase Taps Mastercard to Simplify Cross-Border Payments for Banks appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Payment processes have always operated according to rules set in advance, with someone accountable when things go wrong, and the same instruction producing the same outcome every time. This was precisely the promise that kept trillions of dollars moving across card networks, real-time settlement systems and every other rail. It is also what autonomous AI agents are now starting to test. Agentic AI payment systems, rather than executing instructions a human has already approved, reason, plan, and initiate transactions on their own at machine speed, possibly even with limited human intervention at each step. Technology giants and fintech startups alike are already piloting agent-mediated commerce, and a new layer is being built to support it. A new generation of technical standards, like the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), Agent-to-Agent (A2A) communication frameworks, and the Model Context Protocol (MCP), is emerging swiftly to wire autonomous agents into existing payment rails. A recent International Monetary Fund note titled “How Agentic AI Will Reshape Payments” goes deep into these developments, covering facets like authorisation, liquidity management, settlement, compliance, and operational resilience. It offers insights into “key design questions, architectural tensions, and risk channels” that could require attention as adoption evolves. From Humans Click-to-Pay to Agents Decide-to-Pay The rapid rise of agent-mediated payments raises design and policy questions that existing payment frameworks have not been built to address, the paper indicates. Instead of users initiating each transaction themselves, settings hand the work over to software agents operating under delegated mandates. These include agents that anticipate when a payment is necessary, as well as ones that weigh the available options and coordinate execution across multiple instruments and rails. Under certain conditions, AI agents may even be authorised to make the payment decision outright. This evolution can be read as a shift from explicitly human-initiated transactions, or click-to-pay, towards agent-mediated decision processes, or decide-to-pay, in which execution increasingly unfolds at speed and across several layers of the payment value chain. These are all done within predefined objectives, constraints, and governance arrangements. Although most current agentic AI payment implementations still centre on helping people find and compare products, experimentation is quickly expanding across a much broader landscape of payment-related use cases. These range from fraud detection and compliance monitoring to treasury optimisation and cross-border payment orchestration, reflecting the widening scope of agentic AI pilots across the payments ecosystem. One crucial architectural challenge, the IMF note shares, is coming into focus. Core payment infrastructures are built on deterministic logic, demanding predictability, auditability, and legal enforceability at every step of the transaction’s lifecycle. Agentic AI systems work the other way, relying on probabilistic reasoning and adaptive decision making that can produce different outcomes under otherwise similar conditions. Where Does Risk Lie in Agentic AI Payments? Diving deeper, the IMF note indicates that the primary risk with agentic payments comes from letting adaptive systems “make irreversible payments without proper controls, checks, or accountability.” The key issue here is not whether AI should be used in payments, as it has already been deployed for over four decades. Source: IMF The note showcases a three-layer model to clarify these roles and architectures. The note highlights a design principle, which is to concentrate probabilistic, adaptive reasoning upstream, while preserving deterministic authorisation and settlement where legal finality and systemic stability are required. In simpler words, it means letting AI handle the judgment calls early on, while leaving the actual approval and movement of money to fixed, reliable rules, so the unpredictable part never sits at the point where a payment becomes final. The First Layer: Intent and Orchestration This layer holds the probabilistic agentic systems and protocols that translate high-level user objectives, or intent, into structured, machine-readable instructions. The technologies here enable reasoning, planning, search, negotiation, and multi-agent coordination, without carrying out any authorisation or execution. Among the most consequential standards is Google’s UCP, which gives agents a shared grammar for discovery, comparison, and the creation and management of post-purchase logic. Source: Google Industry pilots are already drawing on these standards. Visa’s Intelligent Commerce and Mastercard’s Agent Pay, for instance, test agent-initiated shopping and payment flows in which agents build purchase intent on their own, within predefined limits, the note shared. The Second Layer: Control and Authorisation This layer enforces the deterministic constraints that decide whether an action proposed or initiated by an agent may proceed to execution. The technologies here ensure that authorisation rests on deterministic policy rules, even when those rules draw on upstream probabilistic systems. Research in the field is increasingly focused on protocols that shift trust away from human oversight and towards technical safeguards, by way of verifiable claims, authorisation constraints, and identity frameworks, the note indicates. The note shares that the core mechanism for this particular layer is the Agent Payments Protocol (AP2), which binds an agent’s actions to cryptographically verifiable mandates that set out scope, limits, actor identity, and permitted conditions. Having these mandates could ensure that downstream authorisation reflects explicit user consent rather than something the model has inferred. Recent industry work shows how mandate-based authorisation can be put into practice in agent-initiated payment flows. The note also indicates that select payment service providers like Stripe have introduced tokenised authorisation mechanisms that let AI agents initiate transactions using a user’s pre-approved payment methods, both card and non-card, without accessing the underlying credentials. Approaches like these show how structural authorisation and payment-method choice can be preserved while maintaining deterministic control over execution. Still, there is deeper tension here. Most payment regimes require that a payment order be traceable to an authorised instruction from an account holder or its legally recognised agent. Agent-initiated payments strain that model, because individual transactions may not map to explicit, transaction-level instructions. Authorisation instead becomes structural and mandate-based, which raises hard questions about traceability, consent, and liability under existing legal frameworks. As agentic payment models mature, the field will need broader and legally workable concepts of authorisation, grounded in verifiable mandates, scope limitations, and auditability. The Third Layer: Settlement This layer comprises the traditional deterministic settlement infrastructures, such as RTGS systems, instant payment networks, and card network clearing engines, alongside newer settlement systems such as central bank digital currency platforms and distributed ledger-based rails. Layer 3 is where payment instructions are executed with irrevocable legal finality. In contrast to the adaptive nature of Layers 1 and 2, the technologies here are built deliberately for predictable, rules-bound execution, operational resilience, and strict auditability, keeping with the principles that govern financial market infrastructures. Source: IMF Execution at this layer also draws on settlement-native technologies such as programmable wallets and token standards. Within this architecture, Layer 3 is the final, non-probabilistic endpoint of the payment chain. It accepts only those instructions that have cleared the deterministic controls in Layer 2, and it executes them without modification, optimisation, or reinterpretation. Agentic algorithms typically do not operate here, the note indicated. That distinct separation could preserve legal certainty, contain systemic risk, and keep the foundations of the payment system stable, synchronised, and trustworthy, even as the processes upstream grow steadily more automated. Managing the Risks of an Automated Payment System The note narrates that containing agentic AI payment risks will call for coordinated action from private and public stakeholders. Financial institutions must invest in governance structures, cybersecurity safeguards, and technical architectures that keep agentic reasoning separate from payment execution. Next, payment networks and technology providers will need trusted identity frameworks and interoperable standards for Know-Your-Agent (KYA) verification, as well as delegated authority. Regulators, for their part, may need to adapt their supervisory approaches, including monitoring frameworks, testing environments, and governance standards for AI-mediated financial activity. To that end, the path of agentic AI payments will be shaped by what the technology can do and by the institutional design and governance choices made around it. The question facing policymakers and industry alike is therefore not whether to adopt agentic technologies, but how to fold them into payment systems in a way that preserves trust, stability, and accountability across an increasingly automated financial ecosystem. Featured image edited by Fintech News Singapore based on an image by Frolopiaton Palm on Magnific The post IMF Lays Out How Agentic AI Could Reshape Payments While Preserving Stability appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Tazapay is putting US$36 million behind agentic payments and cross-border stablecoin rails, betting that AI agents will soon be paying for software by transaction. The Singapore-based payments company closed a Series B extension led by Circle Ventures, with Coinbase Ventures and CMT Digital joining as new backers, taking its total Series B to US$36 million. The fresh capital is earmarked for licensing, corridor expansion across Asia, Latin America, the Americas, and the Middle East, and infrastructure for AI-driven payments. In an interview with Fintech News Network’s Chief Editor Vincent Fong, Chief Product Officer Aayush Singhania unpacks how Tazapay onboards customers across 70+ countries through its partnership with Sumsub, the governance challenge standing between AI agents and unsupervised payments, and what the company is building next. Why Is So Much Investor Money Flowing into Stablecoins? In March 2026, four Singapore startups raised a combined US$150 million for stablecoin-related ventures. When asked about why capital is pouring into stablecoins now, Aayush said it mirrored how far domestic payments have already come. Real-time networks run in 80+ markets, from FAST in Singapore to PromptPay in Thailand and PIX in Brazil. All these networks move volume at scale, yet cross-border payments have kept pace. Money still travels through correspondent banks, hopping across two or more intermediaries and taking two to three days to land in the beneficiary’s account. Aayush Singhania “According to UN estimates, moving $200 across borders still costs 6.2% in 2026,” Aayush shared. “To compound the problem even further, there is $30 trillion stuck in nostro and vostro accounts, which is just dead capital to facilitate settlements.” Aayush believes that this is where stablecoin comes in; as a game-changer. Stablecoins can be moved 24/7 across the border, is instant and irrevocable, and crucially, they do not require pre-funding. He explained further, @fintechnewsnetwork How Stablecoins Solve a $30 Trillion Problem Roughly $30 trillion sits idle in the global banking system just to keep cross-border payments moving. Aayush Singhania, CPO of @tazapay, on how stablecoins free that capital, settling across borders instantly with no pre-funding. fintech banking stablecoins payments ♬ original sound – Fintech News Network – Fintech News Network Tazapay, for its part, is building the fiat bridge for stablecoins and in doing so, making stablecoins usable to consumers and clients. “From the user’s perspective, they don’t realise that crypto is involved. The experience layer continues to be in fiat, whereas the magic happens in the money movement with stablecoins as the transport layer. That is what is really driving investor interest,” Aayush said. The Messy Part of Onboarding Friction Points Tazapay onboards customers globally, and Aayush shares that the organisation splits this process into two parts. The first part involves identity verification, and the obstacle here, he explained, is fragmentation. Every market authenticates people differently: in Singapore, a customer might be verified through SingPass, but in India, it may involve an Aadhar card or passport. Business verification is just as uneven. Some markets maintain databases where a company’s identity can be confirmed directly, while others have no API to reach them. The challenge for Tazapay is to absorb those different variations of fragmentation and still present a single, unified experience to every client. To resolve this, Tazapay partnered with Sumsub, which Tazapay a single pane of glass to onboard customers uniformly. Aayush shared, @fintechnewsnetwork Onboarding Across 70 Countries Is Harder Than It Looks Every market has its own rules for verifying who a customer is, and the complexity is often underappreciated. Aayush Singhania, CPO of Tazapay, on how a partnership with Sumsub simplifies a problem many fintechs hit when they expand. Fintech Banking finance ♬ original sound – Fintech News Network – Fintech News Network The second check is messier, as Tazapay has to confirm if a client will actually use the platform for the purpose they claimed it is for. Aayush explained, “To solve this, we do a variety of checks when we onboard a customer. We verify the kind of terms and conditions which are on their platform. Are they licensed to sell those products in the market?” As these checks were previously tedious and heavily manual in nature, Tazapay has invested heavily into AI-based stacks running in real-time. “This enables us to onboard any business in minutes instead of days,” he shared. AI Agents Will Soon Need Their Own Way to Pay Aayush shared that over the past three to four months, the capability of AI models have moved quickly, and that changes what is possible in payments. He pointed to B2B flows where citing a McKinsey study, almost 60% of payments still require manual intervention. Agents could soon take these on. Within a year or two, Aayush anticipates that businesses can lean on agents to book travel, manage procurement and more. Once agents do the work though, they would also need to settle the bill. “When agents start running this, they will need ways to pay, and that’s where agentic payments comes in,” he explained. Tazapay is approaching the opportunity from two directions at once, building for both the acceptance side, where merchants take payments from agents, and the payer side, where businesses provision and control what their agents can spend. To learn more about Tazapay and how AI agents are already paying for API calls and data using stablecoins, watch the short video below. Featured image by Fintech News Singapore The post Tazapay Is Preparing for a World Where AI Agents Pay the Bill appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

OCBC is expanding its gold offering with allocated gold bars held in a Singapore-based vault. Institutional clients of OCBC, as well as high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients of Bank of Singapore, will be able to buy, sell and custodise physical gold from 10 June 2026. The service covers large gold bars of about 400 troy ounces, or 12.4kg, and 1kg kilobars. The trading and custodial chain will be based entirely in Singapore. Bank of Singapore’s client holdings in physical gold have grown by more than 40 percent since the end of 2025, with most of these holdings belonging to ultra-high-net-worth clients. Jason Moo Jason Moo, CEO of Bank of Singapore, said, “By leveraging OCBC Group’s strengths, we will be able to deliver a secure, trusted and differentiated physical gold offering that addresses our clients’ risk concerns.” Previously, Bank of Singapore clients transacted in physical gold through a US-based entity. They will now be able to transact through OCBC in Singapore instead. Kenneth Lai Kenneth Lai, Head of Global Markets, OCBC, said, “Our Singapore-based physical gold trading and custodian capabilities represent a strategic expansion of our market-making capabilities in precious metals. While we have started with private banking, over time we are looking to expand to institutional as well as other client segments, and offer them a comprehensive range of physical gold investment and hedging solutions.” The gold bars will be identifiable by serial numbers and allocated to clients. This gives clients ownership of specific bars, rather than a stake in a pooled reserve under an unallocated gold arrangement. The physical gold service adds to OCBC’s existing gold-related offerings. OCBC Singapore clients can already invest in fractional gold or silver through the OCBC app. Lion Global Investors, OCBC’s asset management arm, launched the LionGlobal Singapore Physical Gold Fund last year. The fund is backed by physical gold that is insured and vaulted in Singapore. The LionGlobal Singapore Physical Gold ETF was listed on the Singapore Exchange in March 2026. OCBC describes it as Singapore’s first home-grown physical gold exchange-traded fund. In April 2026, OCBC and Lion Global Investors launched the OCBC-LionGlobal Physical Gold Fund Token, or GOLDX token, for institutional investors and corporate accredited investors.     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by mkmult via Magnific The post OCBC Moves Into Physical Gold Trading, Custody for Wealth Clients appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

FXC Intelligence, a financial data company specializing in the payments and e-commerce sectors, has released its annual Cross-Border Payments 100 list. The list identifying this year’s 100 most influential players in global payments and recognizing them for their operational scale, market significance, and sustained growth over the past year. Among the 2026 honorees, 16 companies hail from Asia-Pacific (APAC), an increase from 13 in 2025 which underscores the region’s rising prominence in the global cross-border transaction arena. Released on May 28, the list reveals that Singapore leads the APAC representation with six entries, followed by Mainland China with five, and India with three. The roster also features companies from Bangladesh, and the Philippines. This year’s lineup includes several returning firms such as Airwallex, Ant Group, DBS Bank, Nium, Sunrate, Thunes, LianLian Global, PingPong, Tencent, XTransfer, and Airtel Money. Complementing these established players are new APAC entrants: UnionPay International, PhonePe, Razorpay, bKash, and GCash. APAC’s top 16 cross-border payment firms in 2026 Airwallex (Singapore and US) Dually headquartered in Singapore and the US, Airwallex provides cross-border payments and financial services to businesses through a proprietary banking network and its application programming interface (API). It also offers services and products to businesses such as accounts, expense cards, and payroll. Airwallexʼs payment network allows businesses to send payments to more than 200 countries and regions across more than 60 currencies. Annually, its infrastructure processes over US$266 billion in transactions, serving over 250,000 customers globally. Ant International (Singapore) Founded by Ant Group in 2023 as its international business unit, Ant International owns and operates key global brands including Alipay+, Antom, and WorldFirst. Ant International’s global payment services support more than 300 payment methods in over 220 markets, including all card schemes, 50 mobile payment partners and more than 10 national QR systems, including Singapore’s SGQR, Malaysia’s DuitNow, South Korea’s ZeroPay, Thailand’s PromptPay, Indonesia’s QRIS, and Sri Lanka’s LankaPay. It claims an average of over 20 million transactions daily. DBS Bank (Singapore) DBS Bank is a Singaporean multinational banking and financial services corporation, and one of the city-state’s “Big Three” local banks. It’s a major provider of consumer, small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) and corporate banking services across Asia, enabling transaction banking, remittances, digital payments and cross-border payments connectivity for consumers. DBS Bank operates across 19 markets, with more than 12 million customers. Its DBS Globesend solution for cross-border payments spans 132 currencies and 190 countries, utilizing smart routing and real-time exchange rates to facilitate seamless global money transfers. Nium (Singapore) Headquartered in Singapore, Nium offers cross-border pay-in and pay-out infrastructure, including multi-currency accounts, card issuance and global foreign exchange (FX). The company facilitates real-time payments across 100 corridors and payouts across more than 190 markets. Backed by more than 40 licenses worldwide, Nium’s extensive network powers money movement for banks, fintech startups, and money transfer operators. It currently serves over 1,000 clients, including Mastercard, Booking.com, Air France, and Payoneer, with support for 125 currencies. Sunrate (Singapore) Founded in 2016, Sunrate is a leading global payment and treasury management platform for businesses worldwide. It enables companies to operate and scale both locally and globally in more than 190 countries and regions with its infrastructure, global network, and unified solutions. Sunrate’s platform supports payments in over 130 currencies and is licensed or registered in countries and jurisdictions including Singapore, Hong Kong, Mainland China, Australia, Indonesia, the US, Canada and the UK. Thunes (Singapore) Founded in 2016, Thunes is a Singapore-based payments network aggregator that has built a global network of connections to local payment rails. Its proprietary Direct Global Network allows members to make payments in real-time in over 140 countries and more than 90 currencies. It connects directly to 12 billion mobile wallets, stablecoin wallets and bank accounts worldwide, as well as 15 billion cards via more than 220 different payment methods, including GCash, M-Pesa, Airtel, MTN, Orange, JazzCash, Easypaisa, AliPay, and WeChat Pay. Members of Thunes’ Direct Global Network include gig economy giants like Uber and Deliveroo, super-apps like Grab and WeChat, telecommunications firms, fintech startups, payment service providers (PSPs), and banks. LianLian Global (Mainland China) Founded in 2023, LianLian Global is a cross-border payments fintech based in China that provides accounts, payment acceptance and disbursal, virtual credit cards, as well as end-to-end payment infrastructure solutions for merchants and financial institutions. LianLian Global has served 7.9 million companies worldwide, supporting more than 100 countries and regions, over 70 e-commerce platforms and more than 130 currencies. The company holds over 65 regulatory approvals and licences globally. PingPong (Mainland China) PingPong is a cross-border payments and financial infrastructure provider enabling global money movement services for enterprises, merchants and SMEs, including global collections, payouts, FX, virtual accounts and B2B payments. It covers more than 200 countries and regions, and allows users to hold and convert 30 currencies. To date, PingPong has facilitated US$350 billion in transactions, and has secured over 60 financial licences across major economies. Tencent (Mainland China) Tencent is a major Chinese multinational technology company and the owner of Weixin, Chinaʼs biggest messaging platform and super-app, as well as the international version of the app, WeChat. The platform offers a range of services, including a digital wallet, peer-to-peer (P2P) transfers, merchant payments, wealth management and investment products, lending services, and cross-border payments. As of December 2025, Weixin Pay has secured the second-largest share of China’s mobile payment market. Combined, Weixin and WeChat claim more than 1.4 billion monthly active users worldwide. UnionPay International (Mainland China) UnionPay International (UPI) is a subsidiary of China UnionPay, providing cross-border payment services and enabling card acceptance in 183 countries and issuance in 84 countries. It also provides Moneyexpress, a cross-border remittance service enabling people in 80 countries and regions to send money to cardholders in China, who can directly collect money in their local currency. Outside of Chinaʼs mainland, UPI has issued over 250 million cards and launched more than 200 UnionPay-powered wallets in 36 countries and regions. XTransfer (Mainland China) Founded in 2017, XTransfer is a leading business-to-business (B2B) cross-border trade payment platform. The company provides a a cross-border, group-level global multi-currency unified settlement platform, and anti-money laundering (AML) and risk control infrastructure tailored to SMEs. XTransfer serves more than 897,000 SME customers, offers payments across over 200 countries and regions, and has partnerships with 171 financial institutions worldwide. It is licensed and is registered in major global financial hubs including China Mainland, Hong Kong, the UK, the US, Singapore, the Netherlands, Australia, and Canada. In 2025, XTransfer processed more than US$60 billion in transaction payment volume. Airtel Money (India) Airtel Money is the mobile financial services arm of Bharti Airtel, a leading telecommunications company based in India that offers wireless connectivity, prepaid and postpaid mobile and broadband services to consumers and businesses. Airtel Money offers real-time payments, wallet services, money transfers, savings accounts, merchants payments, and more. The service claims a customer base of more than 54 million users across over 10 countries in Africa and South Asia. It processes an annualized transaction volume of over US$210 billion. PhonePe (India) Headquartered in India, PhonePe builds digital platforms for payments, digital distribution services and financial services. Its portfolio includes consumers payments, merchant payments, lending and insurance distribution services, and specialized fintech platforms, including Share.Market, a stock broking and mutual funds distribution platform, and Indus Appstore, an Android-based mobile app marketplace. Backed by majority owner Walmart, PhonePe ranks as one of the largest payment and wallet apps in India, surpassing 700 million registered users and 50 million registered merchants. In March 2026, it crossed 10 billion real-time transactions for the first time, maintaining its position as the UPI leader with a 46.4% share of total volume. Razorpay (India) Razorpay is an Indian fintech platform enabling businesses to accept, process, and disburse payments through online payment gateways, UPI, cards, wallets, bank transfers, and recurring payments. It also offers banking, payroll, lending, fraud prevention, and business finance solutions for startups, SMEs, and enterprises. Razorpay claims more than 5 million business customers, and processes over INR 50 trillion (US$590 billion) in annual payment volume. bKash (Bangladesh) bKash is a leading mobile financial services platform in Bangladesh, providing digital payments, money transfers, cash-in and cash-out, remittances, merchant payments, and other everyday financial services through mobile phones. It also operates a network of more than 350,000 agents and 900,000 merchants across the nation, integrated with banks, financial institutions, merchants, and service providers. A joint venture of BRAC Bank, US-based Money in Motion LLC, International Finance Corporation of the World Bank Group, Gates Foundation, Ant International and SoftBank, bKash claims over 82 million users. GCash (Philippines) GCash is a leading finance app in the Philippines, allowing users to purchase prepaid airtime, pay bills via partner billers nationwide, send and receive money, make purchases from over 6 million partner merchants and social sellers. Beyond payments, it offers access to savings, credit, loans, insurance products, and investment opportunities. GCash is operated by Mynt, an affiliate of Globe, Ant Group, Ayala Corporation, and other global shareholders specializing in mobile financial services. It claims 94 million Filipinos have used its app, and says its ecosystem includes over 3 million borrowers on GLoan, GGives, and GCredit, as well as more than 9 million active GSave customers.   Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by Who is Danny and Creative_hat via Magnific The post 16 APAC Companies Named Among World’s Top Cross-Border Payment Firms of 2026 appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Vietnam Maritime Bank (MSB) has halved its loan turnaround time from 30 minutes to 15 minutes after deploying automated credit decisioning technology from FICO and regional partner Blitz. The bank integrated artificial intelligence and machine learning models with rule-based criteria to standardise its credit assessment process. The deployment, completed in 10 months, aims to reduce manual errors while helping the lender launch digital credit products faster. “The bank can now approve loans with a level of speed and accuracy that was previously unattainable,” said Nguyen Quang Man, Deputy Chief Risk Officer at MSB. “The ability to adapt quickly as market conditions evolve gives MSB a real competitive edge.” The automated system assesses every loan application using consistent risk parameters, regardless of the product type or application channel. This creates a more scalable framework for an institution managing 260 branches, a workforce of over 7,000 people, more than eight million retail customers, and nearly 100,000 corporate clients. MSB is now looking to apply the same technology to its customer management and debt collection operations. Timothy Choon “MSB set out to solve a real business problem: how do you grow your lending book and serve customers faster without compromising on risk?” said Timothy Choon, Senior Director of ASEAN North at FICO.     Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by digitizesc via Magnific The post Vietnam Maritime Bank Cuts Loan Approval to 15 Minutes with FICO AI System appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Moomoo Singapore has named Jeyson Ng as CEO as the digital investment platform focuses on investor education, AI tools and regional growth. Jeyson has held senior roles across financial services and capital markets, covering exchange development, market strategy, institutional engagement and industry partnerships. Since joining Moomoo Singapore, he has worked on the company’s growth strategy and industry collaborations. In his new role, Jeyson will oversee Moomoo Singapore’s investor education efforts, AI-driven investing tools, access to global investment opportunities and partnerships across Singapore’s financial ecosystem. The appointment follows Moomoo Singapore’s launch of Moo Academy, an investor education initiative involving financial institutions, listed companies, ecosystem partners and retail investors. The company has also introduced Moomoo AI and Moomoo API Skills, which provide data-driven investing features for users. Jeyson Ng Jeyson said, “At Moomoo Singapore, we believe AI will play a transformative role in reshaping the future of investing — making sophisticated insights, data, and execution capabilities more accessible to everyday investors. I look forward to working alongside our team, partners, and regulators to continue building a trusted and intelligent investing platform for investors across Singapore and the region.”     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by zendaIA via Magnific The post Moomoo Singapore Names Jeyson Ng as CEO appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

DBS is making it easier for users in Singapore to fund Weixin Pay wallets for everyday payments in China. Singaporeans, Permanent Residents and foreigners residing in Singapore can now use DBS Remit through digibank to transfer funds to Weixin Pay, the digital RMB wallet available in the Weixin and WeChat apps. Users must verify their passports in the app before making the transfers. The feature follows the February launch of DBS Remit transfers to Weixin Pay e-wallets for accounts linked to identification documents from China, Hong Kong and Macau. Since then, the number of customers using DBS Remit to fund their Weixin Pay wallets has quadrupled, while transaction volumes have grown eightfold. Average transfer amounts have also risen to more than S$800. The feature is relevant to users travelling, studying or working in China, where digital wallets are widely used for payments, transport bookings, food ordering and other everyday services. While users can link credit cards to digital wallets, some transactions above certain thresholds may incur additional fees. Funding Weixin Pay through DBS Remit allows users to avoid these additional platform transaction fees. P’ing Lim P’ing Lim, Regional Head of Ecosystems and Cross Border Payments, Consumer Banking Group at DBS Bank, said, “The robust double-digit growth of DBS Remit transfers to digital wallets in China shows that our customers value the ease and simplicity of using channels they already know and trust. We believe that this latest enhancement is another step towards making cross-border experiences feel more local and intuitive for travellers, as well as those studying and working abroad.” DBS has also recorded growth in regional scan-to-pay and cross-border payment linkages across India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by tsyhun via Magnific   The post DBS Enables Singapore-Based Users to Fund Weixin Pay Wallets appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Visa has expanded Adeline Kim’s role to cover Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand as part of two senior leadership changes in Asia Pacific. Adeline Kim Kim has been appointed Group Country Manager, Regional Southeast Asia & SVP, Global Clients & Acquirers, Asia Pacific. She was previously Visa’s Country Manager for Singapore and Brunei. Kim will now oversee Visa’s business across the three Southeast Asian markets, while continuing to work with clients and partners across the region. She has spent more than 14 years at Visa in leadership roles covering products and solutions, data, risk and country management. Serene Gay Visa has also appointed Serene Gay as Head of Value-Added Services for Asia Pacific. Gay was previously Group Country Manager for Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, and SVP, Global Clients and Acquirers, Asia Pacific. She succeeds Axel Boye-Moller, who has moved to the role of Group Country Manager for the Nordics and Baltics. In her new role, Gay will lead Visa’s Value-Added Services business in Asia Pacific, covering issuing and loyalty, acceptance, and risk and security solutions. Gay brings more than 20 years of experience in payments and financial services, with senior roles across digital banking, product strategy, marketing and data. She has also led businesses for global financial institutions in China and Singapore.     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by Borin via Magnific The post Visa Promotes Adeline Kim to Wider Role Across Southeast Asia appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Deel has added a stablecoin wallet for contractors as demand grows for dollar-backed pay in markets facing currency volatility. The Deel stablecoin wallet lets eligible contractors hold earnings in a dollar-backed balance, earn rewards and spend from the same platform they use to get paid. The wallet is launching first in Latin America, with early access beginning in Argentina. Contractors in other Latin American markets will be added over the next few weeks, followed by APAC, MENA and Africa. Contractors who have completed know-your-customer checks on Deel are eligible. Contractors can hold earnings as DLUSD, an internal USD-denominated digital balance designed to track the value of the US dollar on a one-to-one basis and be redeemable within Deel. They can also opt into Earn to be eligible for rewards generated through Morpho, with no lock-up period. Contractors can move funds back to their Deel balance and withdraw them at any time. A Deel Card, coming later this month, will allow contractors to spend from their stablecoin balance globally. According to Deel, 85 percent of contractors in Argentina chose to be paid in USD rather than local currency in 2025. Thierry Edde, Head of Crypto at Deel, said, “Millions of contractors around the world watch their earnings lose value the moment they land. Today we give them the infrastructure to change that. A dollar-backed balance inside the platform they already use to get paid, rewards that accrue automatically, and a card to spend anywhere. No new account or learning curve required. This is another important step in building the financial infrastructure global workers deserve.” The wallet is powered by Stripe’s stablecoin infrastructure. DLUSD is created through Bridge’s Open Issuance infrastructure, while Privy handles the wallet layer. Rewards can accrue through Morpho, supported by Sentora’s vault. The launch builds on Deel’s earlier stablecoin features, including stablecoin payroll funding for businesses and salary payouts for employees in the US and Eurozone. The Deel stablecoin wallet is available in early access through Deel’s platform.     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by Kamiphoto via Magnific The post Deel Rolls Out Stablecoin Wallet as Contractors Seek Dollar-Backed Pay appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

AXS and NTT DATA Japan are working on a cross-border bill payment link that will start with Singapore and Malaysia. The companies have signed a memorandum of understanding to explore how their bill payment networks can work together. The link would allow users in both markets to pay selected bills through the platforms they already use locally. In Malaysia, e-pay (M) Sdn Bhd, a bill payment aggregator under NTT DATA Payment Services Sdn Bhd, will provide payment channels and connectivity to local billers. In Singapore, AXS will connect users to billers through its digital platforms and islandwide network of self-service kiosks. AXS will act as the main connectivity platform for participating payment ecosystems and bill payment operators. The companies said partners would be able to access bill payment services across the wider network through a single secure connection. NTT DATA will support the initiative through ADAPTIS, its unified payment services brand, and its presence across Japan and Southeast Asia. The service addresses demand from users who live or work across borders and still need to pay household bills or recurring expenses in their home countries. AXS and NTT DATA Japan also plan to explore expansion into other Asian markets, subject to further agreements and regulatory approvals. They may also look at wider collaboration in payment-related services. Jeffrey Goh Jeffrey Goh, Group CEO of AXS, said, “Following our earlier initiatives in cross‑border bill payments, this collaboration with NTT DATA marks another step in extending AXS’ payment connectivity beyond Singapore. By enabling interoperability with trusted regional partners, we aim to make bill payments more accessible and convenient for users who manage obligations across borders, starting with Malaysia.” Masanori Kurihara Masanori Kurihara, Head of Payment, Japan, NTT DATA, said, “By combining our strengths, we are creating new value that enhances convenience and improves everyday experiences. The collaboration, delivered through ADAPTIS as a commerce partner, is designed to reflect local market practices while supporting our mission to accelerate client success and positively impact society through responsible innovation.”     Featured image: Jeffrey Goh, Group CEO of AXS (left), and Masanori Kurihara, Head of Payment, NTT DATA (right) The post AXS and NTT DATA Japan Explore Singapore-Malaysia Bill Payment Link appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Finastra has sold its US Mid-Market banking business to CORA Group, in a deal covering core banking, digital banking and analytics products. The acquisition includes Phoenix Core Banking System, Malauzai Digital Banking, Analyzer IQ and Enterprise Content Management. The products are used by banks and credit unions in the United States. Phoenix is a cloud-based core banking system that supports account opening, customer service across channels and operational scaling. The business will operate as a standalone company under CORA Group, with its existing products, teams and customer relationships remaining in place. Denis Brosnan Denis Brosnan, Portfolio CEO of CORA Group, said, “Finastra’s U.S. Mid-Market business is exactly the kind of company we look for – strong products, loyal customers, and people who really know their industry. We don’t acquire businesses to change what’s working. We give them a permanent home, the resources to keep delivering, and the space to stay close to their customers. That’s exactly what we plan to do here.” CORA Group is part of Jonas Software, an operating group of Constellation Software, and focuses on acquiring and operating vertical software businesses over the long term. Chris Walters Chris Walters, CEO of Finastra, said, “We believe this move sets the U.S. Mid-Market business up to thrive. CORA Group’s long-term approach is the right fit for this business and its customers. For Finastra, it sharpens our focus on the areas where we lead and where we can deliver the greatest value.” The deal is aimed at maintaining continuity for customers while supporting further investment in the products.     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by ismode via Magnific The post Finastra Sells US Mid-Market Banking Business to CORA Group appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Airwallex is expanding into revenue recognition and reconciliation with its acquisition of Leapfin. The acquisition will add Leapfin’s financial data automation technology to Airwallex’s platform. The companies plan to introduce new product capabilities in the coming months to help finance teams manage reconciliation, revenue recognition and record-to-report processes. Leapfin’s platform helps companies organise transaction data from different systems for accounting and reporting. Airwallex plans to use the technology to support businesses operating across multiple entities, currencies and data systems. Jack Zhang Airwallex CEO and Co-founder Jack Zhang said, “Leapfin has solved a notoriously difficult engineering problem by turning messy transactional data into an auditable, single source of truth. Bringing Leapfin’s powerful data engine and accounting AI agents into the Airwallex ecosystem allows us to close the loop on the entire financial lifecycle, from accepting payments to closing the books.” Airwallex processes more than US$266 billion in annual transaction volume and serves over 250,000 customers globally. Ray Lau Leapfin CEO and Co-founder Ray Lau said, “We started Leapfin to give finance teams a stronger foundation than disconnected legacy systems and manual workarounds. By joining forces with Airwallex, we have the backing of a global platform to accelerate our roadmap, scale our engineering resources, and deliver even greater value to the customers who trust us with their critical financial workflows.” Leapfin’s core product, leadership and engineering teams will continue operating following the acquisition to support existing customers.     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by watercolor_vect via Magnific The post Airwallex Acquires Leapfin to Strengthen Financial Data Automation appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Revolut is reshuffling its technology leadership as Co-Founder Vlad Yatsenko prepares to leave the CTO post for a board role. Bloomberg reported that Yatsenko will step down in July ending a long run in the top technology role at the UK fintech. Donato Lucia, Revolut’s Head of Technology, will assume the renamed role of Vice President of Technology. Yatsenko joined before Revolut formally launched and is described as the company’s first employee. CEO Nik Storonsky later gave him the co-founder title, saying earlier this year that the title helped Yatsenko recruit engineers. Yatsenko said he felt settled about the decision. Lucia has been with Revolut since 2018, when he started as a Senior Software Engineer, according to his LinkedIn profile. He was appointed Head of Technology in April 2025 and has worked on systems that support Revolut’s main banking infrastructure. The transition comes as Revolut continues to scale its financial services business across global markets.     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by Who is Danny via Magnific   The post Revolut Co-Founder Vlad Yatsenko Leaves CTO Post for Board Role appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Grab-backed GXS Bank has bought 2.44 billion shares in Indonesia’s Superbank, giving it a 7.22% stake in the listed digital bank. The purchase adds to Grab’s indirect exposure to Superbank as the Singapore-based company moves to bring the Indonesian lender under its financial services segment. IDN Financials reported the share purchase based on the Indonesia Stock Exchange’s update on shareholders with ownership of more than 5%. GXS Bank is jointly owned by Grab Holdings and Singtel, with the former holding 60% and the latter owning the remaining 40%. The IDX update also showed that A5-DB Holdings Pte. Ltd., another Grab-linked investor, bought an additional 47.23 million shares in PT Super Bank Indonesia Tbk. The two transactions bring Grab’s combined exposure to Superbank shares to 23.5%. Both purchases were handled through PT Mandiri Sekuritas. The shareholding change follows Grab’s earlier announcement that Singtel Alpha Investments would transfer its stake in Superbank to GXS Bank. Once completed, the transfer is expected to raise Grab’s combined direct and indirect shareholding in Superbank to more than 50%. This would allow Grab to consolidate Superbank’s financial results into its financial services segment.     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by thanyakij-12 via Magnific The post Grab-Backed GXS Bank Takes 7.22% Stake in Indonesia’s Superbank appeared first on Fintech Singapore.