Kyrgyzstan is moving its national payment app beyond local payments after IPC linked ELCARD Mobile to Alipay+ for overseas QR transactions. Backed by the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic, the rollout allows users in Kyrgyzstan to pay merchants abroad through the Alipay+ network without needing a separate app. IPC and Alipay+, Ant International’s unified wallet gateway, introduced the service as part of efforts to expand cross-border payment connectivity for ELCARD Mobile users. IPC, a subsidiary of the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic, operates the country’s national payment system and connects local banks and financial institutions through the ELCARD payment standard. ELCARD Mobile already supports local card and QR payments, along with other digital financial services. The Alipay+ integration adds overseas payment capabilities for users travelling or spending abroad. Almaz Baketaev Almaz Baketaev, Chairman of the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic, said, “Our citizens now have access to a payment system covering merchants worldwide. Wherever they are, they can make payments in any currency easily and without any complications. I would like to congratulate our citizens from now on, payments abroad have become truly simple and accessible.” Pan Yan Pan Yan, Head of Strategic Partnership for Alipay+ at Ant International, said: “Through our partnership with IPC, and with the support of the National Bank of Kyrgyz Republic, we are proud to help bring greater global connectivity and convenience to users in Kyrgyzstan. At Ant International and Alipay+, we believe interoperable digital payment systems are essential to enabling inclusive growth, empowering consumers and helping local economies participate more fully in global commerce.” The partnership adds to Alipay+’s work with national payment systems in markets including Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Alipay+ connects more than 2 billion user accounts through 50 international payment partners to more than 150 million merchants across 220 destination markets worldwide.     Featured image: (From left) Altymysh Turatbekov, Chairman of the National Interbank Processing Center; Pan Yan, Head of Strategic Partnership for Alipay+, Ant International The post Kyrgyzstan Expands Cross-Border QR Payments with Alipay+ appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

TerraPay and PalWallet have partnered to help businesses settle cross-border payments faster using stablecoin and local payout infrastructure. The partnership brings together TerraPay’s global payments network and PalWallet’s hybrid fiat and digital asset infrastructure. It will support payment service providers, fintechs, merchants, remittance platforms, exchanges and enterprise clients operating across multiple markets. PalWallet provides infrastructure for stablecoin settlement, global payments and embedded financial services. Through the collaboration, the company plans to expand its payout reach, support treasury and remittance corridors, and offer more local payout options across emerging and developed markets. The partnership comes as businesses look for payment infrastructure that can connect to local bank accounts and wallets while supporting faster settlement, transparency and compliance. Cross-border payments are projected to exceed US$320 trillion by 2032, while stablecoin circulation has surpassed US$240 billion. Thomas O’Leary Thomas O’Leary, Chief Marketing Officer at PalWallet, said, “Partnering with TerraPay marks an important step in expanding PalWallet’s global payout capabilities. By combining TerraPay’s established global payment network with PalWallet’s settlement infrastructure, we are helping businesses move value across borders with greater speed, efficiency and operational flexibility.” Valli Ardalan Valli Ardalan, Senior Vice President, UK & Europe at TerraPay, said, “Businesses today need payment infrastructure that is global, compliant and built for real-time money movement. By partnering with PalWallet, we are enabling a broader range of fintechs and digital platforms to access local payout methods and scale internationally through a single connection.”     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by mangpor2004 via Magnific The post TerraPay and PalWallet Partner on Stablecoin Payment Infrastructure appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Fireblocks has launched Flow to help payment service providers and fintechs add stablecoin acceptance without rebuilding their checkout systems. The product lets payment companies enable merchants to accept digital asset payments and settle in their preferred stablecoin. It is available immediately and was unveiled at Money20/20 Europe in Amsterdam. Flutterwave is among the launch customers integrating Flow into its stablecoin infrastructure. The company will use it to accept payments from consumers using different digital assets, with settlement and reconciliation built in. Flow plugs into existing checkout and deposit flows. It supports more than 800 external wallets across EVM, Solana and Bitcoin, as well as Coinbase, Kraken and Crypto.com as payment sources. Transactions are reconciled end to end against existing books, removing the need for manual matching. Flow is also designed to work with the Open Transaction Layer, an industry standard for compliant onchain transactions launched in May 2026. This allows coverage to expand as more providers join OTL, without further integration work for payment companies. Ran Goldi Ran Goldi, SVP Payments & Network at Fireblocks, said, “Walk into any PSP in Lagos, São Paulo, or Manila today and ask what their consumers are actually paying with. It is stablecoins, in a wallet, on five different chains the PSP never built for. These are not companies asking whether to accept crypto anymore. They want to know which integration is going to capture that volume without forcing them to stand up a dedicated crypto team to run it. That is the question Flow answers.” Funds can settle into a Fireblocks Vault, customer-controlled custody, an embedded wallet or an external wallet address. Fireblocks does not take custody at any point, including during conversion, and is not part of the transaction instruction or flow of funds. Fireblocks Flow is available to PSPs and fintechs through Fireblocks account teams.     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by thanyakij-12 via Magnific The post Fireblocks Launches Flow to Help Payment Firms Add Stablecoin Acceptance appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Thunes is adding real-time payout capabilities to its global network, giving businesses outside the country a more direct route for sending USD payments into the US. Members of the Thunes Direct Global Network can now send payments into the US through Automated Clearing House, Same-Day ACH and real-time payment rails using a single API. The service is supported by Thunes’ direct connection to a tier 1 US financial institution and its 50 Money Transmission Licenses across US states and territories. The setup is designed to reduce delays, lower transaction costs and cut the risk of payment rejections by avoiding multi-layered intermediary arrangements. The launch is aimed at gig economy platforms, money transfer operators, payment service providers, banks and neobanks that need to send funds into the US. Thunes’ Direct Global Network provides access across 140 countries, supports 90 currencies and reaches more than 12 billion mobile wallet, stablecoin wallet and bank account endpoints. Chloé Mayenobe Chloé Mayenobe, Deputy CEO of Thunes, said, “By leveraging our licenses across the states to introduce connections to direct, real-time domestic rails alongside institutional-grade USD clearing, we are addressing a multi-trillion-dollar market gap. Thunes is making large-size B2B payments instant and friction-free and making consumer payouts easier than ever, giving our Members in the rest of the world the ability to payout into the US like locals.” Ximena Azcuy Ximena Azcuy, Head of Network, Americas at Thunes, said, “Our direct integration with a primary US financial institution is an absolute game-changer for international businesses and end users. We are opening the floodgates for seamless, high-volume cross-border money movement into the United States.”     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by user8647581 via Magnific The post Thunes Adds Real-Time US Payouts to Global Network appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

The Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) have clarified that PayNow nicknames are being removed to curb impersonation scams, not to expand compliance controls. The joint response followed Daniel Rabetti’s commentary in The Straits Times on 28 May, which questioned what the change could signal for PayNow users. According to ABS and MAS, impersonation scams in Singapore have doubled over the past year, with the misuse of PayNow nicknames contributing to many cases. From 6 June 2026, PayNow will stop displaying nicknames for retail users. Payers will instead see selected letters of the recipient’s registered account name before confirming a transfer. The change is meant to help users verify the recipient while keeping full account names private. ABS and MAS rejected suggestions that the move would make financial flows more traceable, support broader enforcement measures or compromise privacy. They noted that PayNow users are already identified by their financial institutions, while customer due diligence, transaction monitoring and suspicious transaction reporting processes remain unchanged. The change only affects what payers see during a PayNow transaction. PayNow Nickname Removal Balances Scam Prevention with Privacy ABS and MAS added that the measure was announced on 29 April after consumer and industry surveys tested different options for partial name display. About 30 percent of PayNow users currently use nicknames and will be affected. For the remaining 70 percent who do not, the move is expected to improve privacy as full names may currently be displayed. Safeguards are also in place to detect and prevent large-scale data harvesting through PayNow. The removal of nicknames is part of wider anti-scam efforts, including transaction limits, cooling-off periods, fraud monitoring and consumer education. ABS and MAS added that no single measure can address scam risks on its own and urged users to remain vigilant. They also said they would continue engaging stakeholders as Singapore strengthens safeguards across its payments ecosystem.     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by vector_corp via Magnific The post Singapore Clarifies Privacy, Traceability Concerns Over PayNow Nickname Removal appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank (VPBank) and remittance platform Taptap Send have entered into a strategic partnership to expand inbound remittance services to Vietnam. The collaboration enables individual customers in Vietnam to receive international money transfers with zero receiving fees. Under the agreement, the partners will roll out the remittance solution to more than 30 million VPBank customers as well as individuals across the country. The service features fast and streamlined processing alongside 24/7 support to address common cross-border payment issues such as time zone differences, processing delays during public holidays, and foreign exchange risks. Taptap Send has previously established strategic partnerships with member banks invested in by Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), including RCBC in the Philippines. This collaboration marks the next phase of Taptap Send’s global expansion strategy and paves the way for future synergistic opportunities with SMBC through its invested financial institutions in other key markets, including Indonesia and India. Kamijo Hiroki “Our partnership with Taptap Send marks another step forward in VPBank’s strategy to expand its international payment solutions. We believe that by collaborating with reputable partners with strong technological capabilities, VPBank will continue to better serve customers,” said Kamijo Hiroki, Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Head of Foreign Direct Investment and Transaction Banking Division, VPBank. Maxime Chaury “The combination of Taptap Send’s technological capabilities and VPBank’s service ecosystem will provide users with a faster, more convenient, and more reliable international money transfer experience,” said Maxime Chaury, General Manager Southeast Asia, Taptap Send. Remittances remain a source of capital for the economy of Vietnam. In 2025, remittance inflows to Vietnam were estimated at approximately US$18 billion, up US$2 billion compared to 2024. VPBank noted that the expanded channels place the bank in a position to capture a greater share of these capital flows, serve customer needs, and contribute to channelling overseas resources into domestic economic development.     Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by Taptap Send The post VPBank and Taptap Send Launch Zero-Fee Inbound Remittances to Vietnam appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Would you let a piece of software shop for you? From browsing for options, weighing the price, and clicking buy without checking with you first? In Singapore, a sizeable share of consumers are open to the idea of agentic commerce, recent research shows. But where does the principle of trust stand in all of this? AI Agents May Have an Easier Sell in Singapore Than Elsewhere Nearly half of Singapore’s consumers would allow an AI agent to browse and buy on their behalf, according to agentic commerce research from Worldpay, now Global Payments. A further 41% say they are open to the idea once they understand it better, leaving just 15% who say they would never feel comfortable handing purchase decisions to software. These statistics put Singapore among the most receptive markets in a seven-country study of 8,000 consumers. Singapore may be behind China, but it is well ahead of other resistant markets like France, where 53% rule out AI shopping entirely. The enthusiasm also cuts against the gender pattern seen elsewhere in the report. Western markets, including the US, the UK, France and Australia, indicate that men are more willing to adopt AI agents. But in Singapore and Brazil, it was women who led the interest in their respective regions. Price is the Deciding Factor That Sets Singapore Apart Across all seven markets, Singapore topped the list on the single biggest reason to use an AI shopping agent. 75% cited finding the lowest cost. The country also ranked highest for loyalty considerations, with 44% wanting AI to factor rewards into its decisions. Source: The Agentic Commerce Report, Global Payments (now Worldpay) This does indicates that early agentic demand for travel payments is possibly already here. An agent optimised for price and rewards could change how promotions, point programmes and pricing visibility are structured to remain competitive when the buyer is an algorithm. Could AI Be Singapore’s Next Travel Planner? Global Payments’ research for travel also implies that it is a clearer use case for agentic commerce. According to the company’s research for agentic commerce and travel, 31% of Singapore respondents shared that they would let an AI agent spend anything between S$170 and S$850 on flights, 28% would allow up to S$1,700, and 10% would permit AI agents to go as high as S$8,500. Hotel bookings drew more caution, with 30% comfortable with letting agents spend S$170 to S$850 and 19% of respondents willing to go up to S$1,700 at best. Holiday packages, tours and activities also drew warm responses for agent-managed booking. Trust Remains the Final Checkout Barrier The ultimate challenge for consumers to adopt agentic commerce would be how transactions are verified, especially when the buyer is no longer a person. Phil Pomford, Executive Lead, GM Enterprise APAC at Global Payments, shared, Phil Pomford “Merchants and payment providers must be able to distinguish and verify AI agents with the same confidence as human customers. Know Your Agent (KYA) frameworks are designed to verify both the consumer’s intent and the autonomous agent’s authorisation before any transaction takes place. This is a foundational step to ensure trust throughout the customer journey.” He added on, explaining that to build the trust of consumers, merchants could consider investing in digital ID, tokenisation, and cryptographic authentication. Trulioo’s Chief Product Officer, Zac Cohen, recently echoed this point, raising the need for a clearer way to identify if an agent is properly authorised. This includes whether the AI agent’s actions still match the limits set by a business or a person. @fintechnewsnetwork You’ve Heard of KYC. Meet KYA KYC verifies consumers. KYB verifies businesses. KYA verifies the AI agents now shopping and paying on your behalf. Zach Cohen, CPO at Trulioo, explains the verification problem agentic commerce has to solve before AI can move money at scale. fintech KYC KYA payments AI ♬ original sound – Fintech News Network – Fintech News Network With Singapore citizens open to AI agent payments, it doesn’t defray the need for trust. 64% of Singapore consumers surveyed in the Global Payments Agentic Commerce report revealed concern about unauthorised purchases while 57% were worried about incorrect purchases. Only 2% reported no concerns at all. Phil pointed to where merchants could start: “To further build the trust of consumers, merchants should consider investing in technologies like digital ID, tokenisation and cryptographic authentication. These not only reduce fraud exposure while enabling secure, real-time transactions but also help to provide the secure, frictionless experience that consumers now demand.” The early pull for agentic commerce in Singapore may come from cheaper prices and less decision fatigue, but the needle will only move if consumers believe the agent can be trusted at checkout. Featured image edited by Fintech News Singapore based on image by Lifestylememory on Magnific The post 44% of Singaporeans Would Allow an AI Agent to Shop for Them, But What About Trust? appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Paymentology has launched Lume to help banks and fintechs expand card programmes across markets on cloud-native issuer processing infrastructure. The platform is designed to support global scale, localisation and continuous product development. Lume enables issuers to connect to local payment rails, meet sovereign requirements and adapt to market-specific preferences through regional instances across continents. The platform will also support areas such as crypto and stablecoin-linked payments, agentic commerce, real-time payments, tokenisation, embedded finance and digital credit. Lume runs on a multi-cloud architecture across AWS and Google. It uses an API-first model and a zero-trust security framework, with identity-based authentication instead of traditional VPN-heavy connectivity. Jeff Parker Paymentology CEO Jeff Parker said, “Financial institutions want to move faster, launch globally, localise effectively and keep innovating as customer expectations evolve. But many platforms were not designed for that level of scale or adaptability. Lume responds directly to that challenge. It gives issuers modern, cloud-native infrastructure that can evolve with the market rather than hold them back from it, helping our clients build long-term momentum.” Future product updates and platform enhancements from Paymentology will be developed natively on Lume. The launch includes Agentic Payments for AI-initiated purchases, PayCredit for buy now, pay later (BNPL), revolving and instalment credit, and Decision Engine for real-time workflow and decision-tree management. Paymentology has also introduced Money Movement for transfers across cards, accounts and wallets, Platform Portal for programme visibility and control, and Automated Chargeback Management for dispute handling. The launch follows Paymentology’s recent US$175 million funding from Apis Partners and Aspirity Partners, as well as its global expansion and brand refresh. Paymentology supports more than 400 banks, fintechs and financial institutions across nearly 70 countries and processes billions of transactions annually.   The post Paymentology Rolls Out Lume for Banks, Fintechs Scaling Card Programmes appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Artificial intelligence (AI) agents can deliver meaningful efficiency gains and enhance the delivery of public services. However, these benefits are accompanied by challenges and risks, including security vulnerabilities alongside data protection and privacy concerns, according to a new report by Google and key Singapore government agencies. The report, released in May, shares findings from the AI Agents Sandbox, a controlled environment launched by the Singapore government in August 2025. Over a four-month period, this initiative allowed for the testing of AI agents against real-world public-sector use cases under appropriate safeguards. The sandbox focused on three primary applications. The first use case involved exploring how AI agents could support and automate quality assurance testing for government websites and digital services. The second use case explored how AI agents can help scale and automate the safety testing of AI tools, such as chatbots, prior to deployment. Finally, the last use case explored how AI agents can support citizens in navigating and completing social assistance applications, with the aim of reducing friction in a process that is often complex, fragmented, and difficult to complete independently. Efficiency gains and improved servicing Across the selected sandbox use cases, AI agents created value through improved efficiency, enhanced analytical capability, greater consistency and resilience in task execution, and stronger auditability and traceability. In the automated quality assurance use case, AI agents successfully navigated government websites, evaluated webpage response times, and assessed the performance of embedded search functions, including whether search queries returned results within a defined response-time threshold. Beyond performance checks, the agents also demonstrated the ability to evaluate page integrity, distinguishing between production pages and placeholder or staging content. In the AI safety testing use case, AI agents executed tests on chatbots across different user interfaces with a good degree of reliability. They achieved close to full accuracy when entering prompts, even across different languages and formats. This demonstrates that AI agents can reliably handle systematic and repeatable testing at scale. Finally, in the social assistance applications use case, AI agents demonstrated their ability to guide users through an end-to-end application journey. Agents were able to identify missing or inconsistent information and prompt users for clarification where needed, for example, when financial details were incomplete. This illustrates how AI agents can potentially assist applicants or social workers through complex processes, while maintaining transparency and preserving a role for human oversight. Risks and challenges related to AI agents Despite these successes, the research found significant risks requiring careful mitigation. A primary concern is the potential for AI agents to take actions or make decisions without sufficient human review. If not carefully designed, this can undermine trust, particularly in contexts where decisions may have real-world consequences for individuals. This risk surfaced most clearly in the social assistance applications use case. Several points in the application journey were identified where human involvement would be important, such as when the agent lacks sufficient information to complete a field. Another key challenge surfaced by the sandbox is the conflict between default safety safeguards and controlled testing environments. This issue surfaced most clearly in the AI safety testing use case. Early in the sandbox, testing was interrupted because the model’s default content filters blocked prompts that were flagged as unhelpful or potentially harmful. While default safety controls are essential for most deployment scenarios, they are optimized for general use rather than controlled environments such as testing or evaluation. Consequently, responsible deployment requires thoughtful decisions regarding where to fix controls and where to permit customization to accommodate specific testing needs. Across all three use cases, the sandbox surfaced a range of cybersecurity risks. In the automated quality assurance and social assistance applications use cases, indirect prompt injection was tested by exposing agents to environments where malicious instructions could plausibly be embedded within webpage content, such as advertisements. In these scenarios, injected instructions could deceive AI agents into believing that it had to perform the malicious actions in order to achieve its intended goals. In the social assistance use case, the AI agent occasionally navigated to other potentially malicious websites in response to texts that it misinterpreted as instructions on the given website. Privacy breaches and data leakage present another significant risk, especially because of the reliance on screenshot captures. Screenshot-based perception is a fundamental way in which current browser-based agents operate, enabling them to “see” and interact with digital interfaces. However, these screenshots may inadvertently capture personal data displayed on screen, such as financial details, identification numbers, or other sensitive attributes. A related and equally important concern is the technical challenges of determining what information the agent needs to see. Additionally, the sandbox revealed risks related to data minimization. This was explored through providing the agent with information that was not required for the application, and testing whether the agent could distinguish between relevant and irrelevant information. In a significant number of cases, the agent filled in the application with some of this extraneous information, occasionally seeking human confirmation before doing so. The failure to adhere to data minimization created a “utility-privacy trade-off.” While access to personal data can enhance an agent’s effectiveness by providing context that helps it interpret inputs and complete tasks more accurately, it also significantly increases the risk of privacy breaches if that extra data was leaked or mishandled. Agentic AI in Singapore Singapore’s AI Agents Sandbox comes as enterprises in the city-state are increasingly looking to embrace the technology. A 2025 study by Deloitte AI Institute polled more than 3,200 business and IT leaders globally, including 75 in Singapore, and found that organizational interest in AI agent is high. 72% of Singaporean organizations are planning to deploy agentic AI in several operational areas within two years, though only 15% of organizations have already done so. The anticipated use cases are broad, with respondents citing customer and support services, supply chain and logistics management, followed by marketing and sales, as the top three areas where agentic AI will have the greatest impact on their industry. Despite high potential and interest, adoption of AI in Singapore remains moderate. A survey by the Singapore Ministry of Manpower covering 2,560 private sector establishments employing 486,600 workers, conducted between January and March 2026, found that only 28.7% of Singaporean firms have started adopting AI. This places Singapore far behind world leaders including China, Denmark, and Hong Kong, which boast adoption rates ranging between 41% and 47.5%. Proportion of firms that have adopted AI, by country (%), Source: Adoption of Artificial Intelligence Among Firms, Ministry of Manpower of Singapore, Apr 2026 Sectoral differences were also observed. In Singapore, the adoption rates of AI are highest in digitally intensive and knowledge-based sectors. These sectors, which are characterized by their higher shares of tasks suitable for AI-based automation or augmentation, are information and communications with an adoption rate of 74.1%, professional services at 57.5%, and financial and insurance services at 56.4%. Proportion of firms that have adopted AI by industry (%) in 2026, Source: Adoption of Artificial Intelligence Among Firms, Ministry of Manpower of Singapore, Apr 2026   Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by 9moshi via Magnific The post Singapore AI Agents Sandbox Reveals Efficiency Gains But Also Significant Risks appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

SEON has rolled out new AI capabilities to help fraud and AML teams apply real-time risk signals across investigations, reporting and network analysis. The updates include a Model Context Protocol server, Network Detection, AI Chart Builder and an AI Playbook for Risk and Compliance Teams. The MCP server allows analysts to connect tools such as Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot or custom agents to SEON’s risk data. The integration gives teams access to more than 900 real-time risk signals across identity, device, behavioural, AML and IP data. The MCP server is aimed at teams that already use AI tools but still rely on manual processes to move investigation data into those systems. Tamas Kadar Tamas Kadar, CEO and Co-Founder of SEON, said, “The software world is moving toward a headless model, where teams don’t need to live inside a vendor’s dashboard to get full control over data and functionality. Our job is to be the best command center for fraud, risk and compliance intelligence. We’re giving analysts the freedom to use whichever AI tools work best for them.” SEON also introduced Network Detection, which continuously scans the last two months of transactions across devices, emails, phone numbers and IP addresses to identify suspicious clusters. The feature is designed to help teams spot coordinated fraud rings and money laundering networks that may not be clear when individual cases are reviewed separately. AI Chart Builder allows analysts to ask natural-language questions and generate data visualisations using live SEON data. The new tools add to SEON’s existing AI capabilities, including AI-assisted rule creation, scoring insights, AML screening analysis, automated case summaries and regulatory report generation. The company is also releasing an AI Playbook for Risk and Compliance Teams to help customers connect AI tools and set up investigation workflows. The playbook includes pre-built agentic skills such as a fraud analyst daily briefing and a decline spot-check. The MCP server, Network Detection, AI Chart Builder and AI Playbook are now available to SEON customers.     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by mkmult via Magnific The post SEON Launches AI Tools to Support Fraud and AML Investigations appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

FOMO Pay will roll out DuitNow QR acceptance in Singapore, allowing Malaysian visitors to pay merchants using their local banking and payment apps. The feature will allow Malaysian visitors to pay in Malaysian Ringgit through DuitNow QR, while FOMO Pay merchants receive settlement in Singapore Dollars. The rollout comes ahead of the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System Link, which is expected to open in January 2027 and carry up to 40,000 passengers daily. The rail link is expected to increase consumer traffic between Singapore and Malaysia. The DuitNow QR Singapore rollout is aimed at merchants in sectors such as retail, dining and lifestyle. By supporting DuitNow QR, merchants will not need to set up separate payment systems or manage foreign currency payments manually. Malaysian consumers will be able to pay through banking and payment applications they already use at home. Rose Wang, Head of Digital Payments at FOMO Pay, said, “As travel and consumer movement across Southeast Asia becomes increasingly fluid, real-time payment rails like DuitNow are fast becoming part of the infrastructure powering everyday regional commerce. Enabling DuitNow QR acceptance in Singapore helps merchants better connect with Malaysian consumers in ways that feel natural to how they already transact in their daily lives.” The rollout forms part of FOMO Pay’s wider effort to help merchants connect to national instant payment systems in Asia through its multi-rail and multi-currency payment platform.     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by farknot via Magnific The post FOMO Pay to Enable DuitNow QR Payments for Malaysian Visitors in Singapore appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Global payments technology company Juspay announced that it joined the Mastercard Engage partner network as a certified third-party partner for Mastercard Click to Pay today. Building on its rollout in Brazil, Juspay is enabling Click to Pay in Asia, which is said to enable merchants to provide a secure checkout experience. Click to Pay eliminates the need for manually entering card details, thereby improving conversion rates and reducing checkout friction. Mark Ronayne, Associate Director – International, at Juspay, shared, Mark Ronayne “With Click to Pay, we’re enabling merchants to offer a consistent, one-click checkout, helping improve conversion while delivering a seamless payment experience for consumers.” The Mastercard Engage platform is a global partner ecosystem that connects Mastercard with qualified technology partners, helping financial institutions and merchants in the deployment of payment solutions. With its addition of the Mastercard Engage platform, Juspay will also collaborate with Mastercard to support merchants in their adoption of Click to Pay. Juspay secured a US$50 million funding via a Series D follow-on investment from WestBridge Capital. The deal values the payments infrastructure firm at US$1.2 billion. Featured image edited by Fintech News Singapore based on an image by thanyakij-12 on Magnific The post Juspay Joins Mastercard Engage Network As Certified Click To Pay Partner appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Mastercard has named Ling Hai as its next Chief Financial Officer (CFO) as part of a wider reshuffle across its global leadership team. The changes will take effect on 3 August 2026 and cover several senior roles across finance, services, commercial payments and global operations. Ling, currently President of Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East and Africa, will succeed Sachin Mehra as CFO. Mehra will move into the newly created role of Chief Business Officer, where he will oversee country operations globally, Sales Enablement, Global Partnerships and Digital Commercialization. Linda Kirkpatrick, President of the Americas, will become Chief Services Officer, succeeding Craig Vosburg. Dimi Dosis, President of Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, will become Chief Commercial Payments Officer and lead Commercial and New Payment Flows. He succeeds Raj Seshadri. Jorn Lambert, Chief Product Officer, will continue to lead Consumer Payments, bringing together Mastercard’s stablecoin, agentic and core payments work. Vosburg will move into the role of Vice Chair and serve as a global ambassador for Mastercard. Seshadri will become Senior Strategic Advisor to the CEO, supporting senior client engagement, key partnerships and emerging strategic areas. Tim Murphy, Vice Chair, will retire from Mastercard in October as planned. Michael Miebach Michael Miebach, CEO of Mastercard, said, “These leadership updates build on our strategy by aligning our team to that opportunity — strengthening execution, advancing a more connected customer experience and positioning the company for our continued growth.”     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by Mastercard  The post Mastercard Names Ling Hai CFO in Wider Leadership Reshuffle appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Stablecoin payments are moving into the eligible enterprise merchant network of Checkout.com through a new partnership with Coinbase. The integration is powered by Coinbase Payments and will enable consumers to pay using USDC or USDT. Merchants will continue to settle in US dollars through Checkout.com’s existing payment rails. The feature will be available to eligible merchants across Checkout.com’s network of more than 1,000 enterprise customers. The company works with digital businesses that already use its platform for cards, bank transfers and digital wallets. The partnership comes as stablecoin payments gain traction in online commerce, particularly in markets where card access is uneven, local currencies are volatile, or consumers already hold digital dollars. According to Visa data cited by Coinbase, stablecoin transaction volume reached US$10.2 trillion over the past 12 months, up 63 percent year on year. Merchants Keep Existing Settlement Setup For merchants, the integration allows stablecoin payments to be added through Checkout.com’s existing platform without requiring a separate crypto integration. Coinbase Payments will provide the buyer and merchant payment experience through its acceptance APIs. Coinbase’s infrastructure operates across nearly 50 countries and includes custody services that have safeguarded assets for more than 14 years. The service is designed to help enterprise merchants offer stablecoin payments while continuing to use their existing payment setup for settlement.     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by thanyakij-12 via Magnific The post Coinbase to Power Stablecoin Payments for Checkout.com Merchants appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Consumer fraud is no longer a peripheral risk across APAC. It is becoming a defining factor in how people engage with digital services, payments and financial institutions, and in how much they trust them. New report from LSEG Risk Intelligence, based on responses from 7,000 consumers across APAC, shows the scale of the challenge and why organisations across banking, fintech and payments need to rethink how fraud risk is managed. Sample distribution by region and market    Source: LSEG Risk Intelligence report Fraud exposure is now the norm, not the exception Almost six in ten adults across APAC have been exposed to scams directly or indirectly in the past two years. Around one in four consumers report being personally targeted, and of those, 42% lost money. In aggregate, this means roughly one in ten adults across the region has already become a scam victim. While exposure levels vary by market, no country is immune. Australia reports the highest levels of concern and targeting, while China shows lower perceived risk but the highest loss rate among those targeted. Source: LSEG Risk Intelligence report In Japan, by contrast, exposure is relatively low but anxiety about fraud remains high, a paradox that highlights how perception and reality can diverge sharply. In Singapore, younger adults appear particularly exposed to financial losses, with 25–34-year-olds reporting the highest personal loss rate among surveyed age groups. Source: LSEG Risk Intelligence report For organisations operating across borders, these differences matter. Fraud controls, education and customer communication cannot be one-size-fits-all. AI is accelerating scams and eroding confidence One of the most significant shifts highlighted by the research is the growing role of AI-enabled fraud. Around one in five APAC consumers encountered AI-generated scam content in the past year, including voice clones, deepfake videos and fake customer-service chatbots. These tactics are not just increasing losses, they are changing behaviour. Nearly half of those exposed to AI-driven scams now trust unknown phone calls less, while many report greater suspicion of video calls, polished online ads and digital endorsements. For financial institutions and digital platforms, this erosion of trust presents a dual risk: fraud losses on one side, and declining engagement or conversion on the other. The human impact goes far beyond money The report makes clear that fraud is not a purely financial event. Almost half of scam victims across APAC report anger or frustration, while significant numbers experience anxiety, embarrassment or shame. In markets such as Hong Kong and Australia, concern about financial security is particularly acute. These emotional effects drive lasting behavioural change. An overwhelming 96% of victims say they changed how they act after being scammed, becoming more cautious with payments, more guarded with personal information, or avoiding certain digital channels altogether. While caution can reduce future risk, it can also increase friction, slow payments and damage customer experience if not addressed carefully. Education gaps remain a critical weakness Despite living in high-risk environments, most consumers do not feel well prepared. Only 23% of APAC respondents say they feel “very well educated” on how to protect themselves from scams, and around one in five say they are unaware of any protections or support available if something goes wrong. This gap between exposure and preparedness is particularly concerning as scams become more sophisticated. In several markets, awareness of newer threats such as deepfakes or QR-code scams remains low, even among digitally active consumers. What this means for financial services and fintech The findings point to a clear conclusion: trust is now a core fraud metric. Organisations that combine effective controls with clear communication, consumer education and fast response mechanisms are better positioned to reduce losses and preserve confidence in digital channels. Markets such as Hong Kong, where high exposure is paired with lower loss rates, suggest that vigilance, collaboration and timely intervention can make a material difference. Source: LSEG Risk Intelligence report As digital engagement continues to grow across APAC, fraud risk will remain dynamic. Understanding how scams affect consumer behaviour, confidence and decision-making is no longer optional. It is a prerequisite for protecting customers, sustaining growth and maintaining trust in the financial system. Download the full APAC Consumer Fraud Report 2026 by LSEG Risk Intelligence to explore the data by market and demographic. The post LSEG Report Highlights How Fraud Is Changing Consumer Behaviour Across APAC appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Singapore consumers are raising concerns over underage betting as more users plan to place bets online during the 2026 World Cup. Jumio’s 2026 Online Identity Study found that 76% of respondents in Singapore worry about minors using sports betting apps during the tournament, the highest among the four markets surveyed. The study surveyed 8,003 adult consumers across the United States, United Kingdom, Singapore and Mexico. Globally, 63% of respondents shared the same concern. In Singapore, 82% believe online platforms and their technology providers are responsible for preventing underage betting. World Cup Betting Interest Grows The findings come as sports betting is expected to form part of how many consumers follow the tournament. Globally, one in three adults surveyed plan to bet during the World Cup. In Singapore, 29% plan to engage in sports betting, compared with 43% in Mexico, 33% in the UK and 26% in the US. The study also found that 48% of respondents in Singapore view betting as an important part of how they plan to enjoy the tournament, while the same share expect to socialise around their bets. Platforms Face Age Check Pressure Jumio noted that online platforms are likely to play a major role in this activity. In Singapore, 51% of respondents prefer to place bets online, while 19% said the World Cup would be their first time using an online gaming platform. Another 42% in Singapore already have a sports betting account they plan to use during the tournament, while 27% expect to use multiple platforms to place bets during matches. Jumio said these trends could add onboarding pressure for betting operators as more users turn to digital channels. Bala Kumar Bala Kumar, President and Chief Product and Technology Officer at Jumio, said, “As online sports betting grows, operators have a clear duty to prevent minors from accessing their platforms — not just to react when something goes wrong. That means layered identity and age verification built for real protection and designed so legitimate adults can get through without friction. In online betting, the operators who win will be the ones who treat verification as foundational, not as a checkbox.”     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by nekokrouz via Magnific The post Jumio Study Highlights Singapore Concerns Over Underage World Cup Betting appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

In 2025, the global fintech industry demonstrated increased maturation, revenue growth, and improved profitability. According to Boston Consulting Group (BCG)’s 2026 Global Fintech Report, global fintech revenues surpassed US$500 billion in 2025, growing 22% year-over-year (YoY) and representing more than four times the rate of incumbent financial services firms. Fintech now accounts for roughly 4% of global banking and insurance revenues, up from 3% from the year prior. Fintech versus incumbent revenue growth, Source: Global Fintech Report 2026, Boston Consulting Group, Jun 2026 Trading and investments, along with deposits, were among the fastest-growing segments, expanding 38% and 30%, respectively, in 2025. The payments vertical remained the dominant fintech category, with revenue accounting for 44% all fintech revenue. Regionally, Asia-Pacific (APAC) was the fastest-growing market, expanding 25% YoY, driven in part by digital banking and crypto trading platforms in Japan and South Korea, alongside Southeast Asia. Europe also outperformed the global average, growing 24%, supported by neobanks, continued buy-now-pay-later momentum, and a more accommodating regulatory environment. At 21%, North America grew roughly in line with the global market, while Latin America, though still strong at 15%, somewhat lagged the global average. At 20%, the Middle East and Africa (MEA) maintained strong momentum, though growth was moderated by challenging regulatory conditions. Global fintech revenue, Source: Global Fintech Report 2026, Boston Consulting Group, Jun 2026 Beyond revenue growth, the fintech industry is shifting towards more sustainable models. Among the largest 85 public fintech firms, EBITDA margins increased 4 points in 2025 to 20%, and 74% of these firms are now profitable versus 68% in 2024. EBITDA margin is a profitability ratio, representing the percentage of revenue a company retains as operating earnings before accounting for interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. Increased EBITDA margins indicate that, collectively, companies within fintech are generating higher operating profits relative to their revenue. This suggests improved operational efficiency, better pricing power, or effective cost control across the industry. Average EBITDA margin (%), Source: Global Fintech Report 2026, Boston Consulting Group, Jun 2026 Maturation of the fintech industry is also evident in capital allocation. Equity funding rose 53% to US$58 billion in 2025, with trading and investment fintech firms capturing roughly one-third of all funding, up from about one-fifth the year before. A similar approach is visible in exit markets, with fintech initial public offerings (IPOs) rising 50% YoY in 2025, from 28 to 42. Fintech equity funding and IPO activity, Source: Global Fintech Report 2026, Boston Consulting Group, Jun 2026 Top fintech trends in 2026 The BCG report also outlines key fintech trends for 2026, emphasizing the rise of agentic commerce, the expansion of digital assets sector, neobanks evolving into broader ecosystems, and a regulatory gap between banks and fintech firms that is narrowing. AI agents in commerce Generative AI is already reshaping product discovery, with shopping-related use growing 35% from February to November 2025. However, widespread adoption of agentic commerce will likely take time, with initial deployment expected in low-ticket, repeatable categories like household supplies and groceries. BCG estimates roughly US$375 billion in first-wave US e-commerce spending, with US$1 trillion eventually becoming agent-assisted out of a US$1.9 trillion addressable base. Agentic commerce categories value versus risk, Source: Global Fintech Report 2026, Boston Consulting Group, Jun 2026 As agentic commerce matures, BCG anticipates the rise of specialized agents tailored to specific contexts. Different spending categories require different integrations, decision logic, and merchant relationships. For example, a travel agent needs to understand schedules and fare rules. Meanwhile, a fashion or home agent may need to understand sizing, fit, style preferences, delivery timing, and return behavior. Digital assets vertical continue to mature Digital assets have regained momentum following the crypto bear market of 2022 and 2023, with industry players now accounting for 15% of all global fintech revenues and 23% of equity funding. The asset class has grown to roughly US$3 trillion in crypto market capitalization, US$300 billion in stablecoins, and US$30 billion in tokenized real-world assets. There are now an estimated 7,000 digital asset players, representing 18% of all fintech companies. Of these, 4,000 have a core product offering around digital assets, while another 3,000 players offer auxiliary products or services linked to digital assets. The digital asset ecosystem, Source: Global Fintech Report 2026, Boston Consulting Group, Jun 2026 Despite surging activity and investments in the digital asset space, scaled use cases beyond cryptocurrencies remain elusive. Approximately 65% of stablecoin holdings are tied to crypto trading, 25% to dollar access in emerging markets, and only 10% to real-economy payments. BCG believes the more probable path to broader adoption of digital assets will likely be asset tokenization, with instruments including money maker funds, commodity funds, alternatives, and securitized debt best positioned. These asset classes currently suffer from costly, fragmented infrastructure and illiquidity, making them prime targets for tokenization. BCG projects that roughly 15% of investable real-world assets will be represented in tokenized form by 2035, amounting to US$88 trillion. Digital RWA projection (in USD trillion), Source: BCG scenario analysis, May 2026 Neobanks continue to expand Another key trend in 2026 is the evolution of neobanks from single-product disruptors into broader financial platforms, expanding into lending, investing, insurance, cross-border transfers, and wealth management. Chime, for example, entered lending with instant loans in 2025, offering eligible members access to up to US$500, while Nubank has continued to broaden its credit portfolio across cards and unsecured lending, including recent personal loan expansion in Colombia. These leading neobanks are now building wider ecosystems that foster primacy, raise engagement, and improve monetization across the customer lifecycle, and develop more holistic financial propositions. Some markets have more accommodating regulatory environment and easier paths to formalization, accelerating neobanks’ expansion. For example, Revolut was granted last year a full UK bank license, expanded its wealth offering with zero-commission exchange-traded funds (ETFs) plans across the European Union (EU) and Switzerland, rolled out contracts-for-difference trading across 29 countries, and moved into mortgage refinancing in Lithuania. Neobanks are expanding into lending, wealth, insurance, and investing, Source: Global Fintech Report 2026, Boston Consulting Group, Jun 2026 A narrowing regulatory gap For years, fintech firms delivered bank-like products without operating as fully regulated banks. That gap is now closing. Over the last year, major players including Revolut, Nubank, Coinbase, and Ripple have applied for federal bank charters. In the US, charter and depository institution applications rose five times from 2024 to 2025 and approval pathways are shortening. Clearer licensing routes in the UK and parts of Europe point in the same direction, while in India, regulation is increasingly applying to both regulated and unregulated models, reducing the benefit of staying outside the perimeter. Federal bank charter and new-bank application volume, Source: Global Fintech Report 2026, Boston Consulting Group, Jun 2026 This development suggests that fintech startups are moving closer to bank status, gaining lower funding costs and fuller customer ownership, but also facing tighter governance, capital, and supervisory expectations. Exits activity grows with fintech becoming consolidators Finally, BCG highlights a significant rebound in fintech exit activity. In 2025, IPOs rose 50% YoY, and M&A volume climbed from US$105 billion in 2023 to US$184 billion in 2024 and US$251 billion in 2025. Notably, the composition of these deals is evolving, with scaled fintech firms surpassing incumbents as acquirers. In 2025, 659 deals were completed by scaled fintech firms, versus 589 by incumbent acquirers. This reverses the pattern from 2024 when incumbents led deal activity with 517 deals compared to 491 by fintech companies. This signals a new phase of maturity, with established fintech firms now no longer being acquisition targets, and becoming consolidators themselves. Fintech M&A activity, Source: Global Fintech Report 2026, Boston Consulting Group, Jun 2026 The M&A logic for fintech is clear. As scaled players broaden their product sets, acquiring capabilities in AI, compliance, digital assets, and infrastructure become critical for long-term positioning. In this environment, acquisition serves as both a defensive and an offensive tool.   Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by freepik via Magnific The post Top Global Fintech Trends in 2026 appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Malaysian payment firm Soft Space has supported DBS’ launch of a tap-to-phone feature, making it the first Singapore bank to let merchants accept card payments directly on Android smartphones. The feature is available through the DBS MAX app and allows businesses to accept credit and debit card payments without using a separate payment terminal. Customers can complete a transaction by tapping a physical card or supported digital wallet on a merchant’s phone installed with the DBS MAX app. The service supports NFC-based payment options such as Apple Pay, Google Wallet and Samsung Wallet. Tesy Mathew Tesy Mathew, Group Head of Cash Product Management, Global Transaction Services at DBS, said, “With ‘tap-to-phone’, we are thrilled to add a new collection mode to the DBS MAX app. Businesses can transact in a more efficient and cost-effective manner and scale confidently to capture new opportunities. Retail customers benefit too, as they now have more avenues to use their preferred contactless payments across Singapore.” The tap-to-phone capability adds to the existing payment options on DBS MAX, including QR code payments through DBS PayLah! and PayNow. The feature is aimed at businesses that need more flexible payment acceptance, including those running pop-up stalls or operating without additional point-of-sale hardware. Merchants can activate the service through the DBS MAX app in three steps. DBS said the service could also help merchants serve more customer segments, including overseas visitors who prefer to pay by card or may not have access to compatible local digital wallets. Joel Tay Joel Tay, CEO of Soft Space, said, “We are proud to support DBS in introducing tap-to-phone card acceptance to merchants in Singapore. As the first Singapore bank to launch this capability, DBS is reinforcing the continued importance of card acceptance alongside QR payments, while giving merchants greater flexibility in serving their customers.” DBS MAX was first introduced in 2018 as a cashless collections app that combines payment collection and automated bookkeeping.     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by topntp26 via Magnific The post DBS Is First Singapore Bank to Launch Tap-to-Phone Payments with Soft Space appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Recent talks around the block have made it clear that banks do want AI, but the latest news has now asked them, should we? In May 2026, HSBC CEO Georges Elhedery said generative AI will “destroy certain jobs” and create new ones, while urging employees not to fight the change. Standard Chartered has gone further, saying it plans to cut 15% of its corporate function roles by 2030 as it uses AI and automation to slim operations, improve productivity and lift returns. But those examples of how AI is affecting companies do not necessarily mean banks in Southeast Asia will follow the same path overnight. They do, however, make the trust question harder to avoid. If AI is powerful enough to change how banks hire and structure their teams, it also needs to be reliable enough to sit inside real financial operations. Like many other companies, banks and fintechs also want the upside of artificial intelligence. AI has proven that it could help with faster onboarding, better fraud detection, lower operating costs and more personalised customer experiences, all of those shiny things. But what they usually missed out on is at the flipside of the coin, where the question of knowing whether the systems behind those gains can be monitored and defended when something goes wrong. Leo Li, President of International Business at Ant Digital Technologies, sees that hesitation clearly. “From my observation, the two biggest concerns are ROI and risk,” he said. Those two words capture why many banks remain cautious. AI can be useful, but usefulness alone is not enough in a sector where every new system must answer to compliance, audit and customer trust. Banks Are Starting at the Edges Leo Li “Most banks are carefully evaluating AI adoption from the outside in,” Leo said. What Leo meant by this is that he views AI adoption in banking as a gradual movement from the outer parts of the organisation toward the core. On the one hand, things like customer service, marketing, onboarding and operational support tend to come first because the risks are easier to manage. Core banking on the other, sit much closer to the institution’s risk centre, where mistakes are harder to explain and more expensive to fix. Across the market, this creates a strange mix of momentum and caution. Banks are already testing AI assistants, chatbots, fraud tools and even internal productivity systems, while still keeping a tighter grip on use cases with heavier financial or regulatory consequences. A pilot can show that something works under controlled conditions but daily use requires more confidence because the bank must be able to explain the system’s role when a decision is questioned. Leo said banks usually approach AI with a practical question in mind: “Does it create enough value to justify the risk?” he asks. The Accountability Problem Has Not Gone Away That is where Leo draws a clear line between capability and responsibility. “AI is a tool. It cannot take responsibility. In the end, humans and institutions still carry that responsibility,” he said. The distinction matters because AI-supported decisions can affect access to a lot things. A faster model may improve efficiency, and a sharper system may reduce some risks, but the institution still answers to customers, regulators and its own board. Banks and financial regulators especially within Southeast Asia are also moving closer to the issue that AI poses. Bank Negara Malaysia for instance published a discussion paper in 2025 to gather feedback on its regulatory and developmental approach to AI in the financial sector. Neighbouring country, Singapore’s Monetary Authority of Singapore has set out FEAT principles covering fairness, ethics, accountability and transparency in the use of AI and data analytics in financial services. Leo’s framework for financial AI sits in that same territory. He said AI used in finance must be explainable, auditable and traceable. “When we deploy AI in the financial industry, AI must be explainable, auditable and traceable,” he said. A bank needs to know why a customer was rejected, why a transaction was flagged, how a model reached a recommendation and whether the process can be reconstructed later. Without that discipline, AI risks becoming another opaque layer inside an already complex system. SMEs May Feel the Impact Differently The same accountability question becomes more interesting when AI moves beyond the bank itself and begins to shape how financial institutions understand smaller businesses. Leo sees that shift playing out not only inside banks, but also among the SMEs they serve. In Southeast Asia, that is not a small market. ASEAN estimates that the region has around 70 million MSMEs, which account for between 97.2% and 99.9% of total establishments across member states. UNDP has also noted that MSMEs make up about 85% of ASEAN’s labour force and 45% of regional GDP. Leo pointed to the rise of what he called OPCs, or one-person companies, as one signal of how AI could change business formation. In China, he said, some individuals are already using AI agents and tools to manage work that previously required several people. “One person can utilise agents and AI tools to build the whole system for one company,” he said. Southeast Asia’s SMEs will not all move in that direction. Many still face familiar constraints around financing, digitisation and resilience. Still, AI could give smaller teams more capacity to manage operations, reach customers and generate clearer signals of how their businesses are performing. That matters for banks and fintech lenders because smaller businesses may not look the same as they did before. If AI changes how these firms operate, financial institutions may need to rethink what a small business looks like in the first place, while also still keeping the accountability standards expected in regulated finance. Local Data Becomes the Differentiator “Data belongs to the region. Every market has its own DNA. Malaysia’s, for example, is unique,” Leo said. The point connects back to SMEs because understanding how smaller businesses operate will depend on more than access to AI models alone. A lender trying to assess an AI-enabled merchant in Malaysia cannot rely only on assumptions built for another market. It needs to understand how local businesses receive payments, manage cash flow, verify customers and respond to seasonal demand. Those details are often where risk becomes visible. Leo said AI capability usually depends on three elements: local insights, computing power and algorithms. The latter two have become easier to obtain as cloud infrastructure improves and large models become more widely available. The harder part is the first one, data, because it reflects how people and businesses actually behave in each market. Many financial institutions already have that information sitting inside their own systems. Leo described banks as sitting on a “gold mine”, but the value of that data depends on whether institutions can use it responsibly and with enough governance. Privacy computing is one area he believes could help. It allows institutions to draw value from data without unnecessarily exposing personal information, which becomes important when banks are trying to understand SMEs that may not fit neatly into traditional credit models. Better local data could help financial institutions see how smaller businesses are changing. Poor governance, however, could turn the same opportunity into another trust problem. Trust Has to Be Earned in Production Better local data can help banks understand customers and SMEs more clearly, but the real test begins when that data is used inside live financial services. The technology has to work reliably, and the institution has to know what to do when it does not. For Leo, trust only becomes meaningful in production. “Trust is based on outcomes and results. Marketing and PR can start the conversation, but lasting trust comes from proven performance，” he said. Banks do not evaluate technology partners only on product claims or global credentials. They need providers that can respond quickly, adapt to local requirements and support systems once they are exposed to real customers, transactions and risk decisions. Ant Digital Technologies, the technology arm of Ant Group, sits in that part of the conversation through infrastructure, AI infrastructure, mobile platforms, digital identity, AML and risk management, with credit-related services depending on local licensing requirements. In Malaysia, the company not only work with clients from the banking and fintech side like RYT Bank, Kenanga Investment Bank Berhad (KIBB) and TNG Digital, they also worked with SP Setia, a property developer within the country. Its local presence has also grown through ZOLOZ, Ant Digital Technologies’ flagship AI product, which launched a Malaysia operations hub in 2026 to strengthen local service capabilities, response times and on-the-ground processing for Malaysian customers. Leo said Ant Digital Technologies sees international markets as a long-term commitment, with Malaysia playing a role as a talent and resource centre. Local partners lead, while the company supports with technology, infrastructure and operating experience. Trust in financial AI therefore has to be proven close to the market. Banks may work with global technology providers, but customers experience the outcome through the local institutions they already know. AI Strategy Needs the CEO Early AI work may sit with technology teams, but they cannot carry the transformation alone. Leo believes the CEO has to carry the responsibility because AI changes how the organisation makes decisions, manages risk and responds to customers. Banks may find that integrating the platform is the easier part. Changing the organisation around it will take longer. “AI transformation should be every CEO’s top priority,” he said. Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore based on an image by Frolopiaton Palm via Magnific. The post Are Banks Ready to Stand Behind Their AI? appeared first on Fintech Singapore.

Deloitte has appointed Robert Hillard as APAC CEO for a four-year term, succeeding David Hill, whose term ended on 31 May 2026. The appointment was endorsed by Deloitte partners across APAC. Hillard was most recently Deloitte APAC’s Consulting Businesses Leader, where he worked on AI-powered client solutions and alliances with technology firms. He has also advised clients across the region on strategic and operational challenges. Robert Hillard “Asia Pacific is where the most consequential economic and technological decisions are now being made. Home to over 40 percent of the world’s Fortune Global 500 companies and driving the majority of projected global economic growth and prosperity, this is where the future of business is being shaped. The convergence of AI and the region’s growth creates an opportunity to serve clients with a level of precision, speed and scale not previously possible,” Hillard said. David Hill Outgoing CEO David Hill said, “Rob is one of the most capable technology and transformation leaders in professional services. He understands how AI and emerging technologies will reshape how clients are served and has spent his career building the skills, relationships and credibility to lead through that change. Deloitte Asia Pacific will be well served by his leadership.” Deloitte said Asia Pacific grew to become the largest professional services firm in the region under Hill’s leadership. Deloitte has also appointed Haruko Nagayama as Asia Pacific Chair, effective 1 June 2026. She will oversee governance of the member firm alongside the Deloitte Asia Pacific Board. Nagayama previously served as Chair of Deloitte Tohmatsu Group in Japan and has been a Deloitte Asia Pacific Board member since 2022. She has more than 30 years of experience at Deloitte, including audit work with large public global companies. She succeeds Dennis Chow, who has stepped down as Chair.     Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by mkmult via Magnific The post Deloitte Appoints Robert Hillard as APAC CEO appeared first on Fintech Singapore.