DBS Hong Kong has released a survey on the city’s business outlook. SMEs are adopting AI and digital tools at nearly half the rate of large and mid-sized firms, the findings show. Some 62% of large and mid-sized companies reported full or partial integration of AI and digital technologies, compared with 38% of SMEs. Skills shortages and data security concerns topped the list of barriers to further adoption, each cited by 37% of respondents. Even so, most respondents remain upbeat about the city’s economic prospects. Of those surveyed, 63% feel positive or very positive about the outlook for local businesses…

Finloop has secured more than US$10 million in Series A+ funding from strategic investors including HSBC and People’s Capital. The Hong Kong-based wealthtech platform announced the financing alongside the launch of Finterprise, a corporate wealth management service designed for Hong Kong-registered SMEs. Finterprise integrates cash management, corporate portfolio allocation and corporate banking account management into a single platform. It supports multiple currencies, including the US dollar, Hong Kong dollar, euro and offshore renminbi. The platform also offers access to funds, notes and bonds, with fund subscriptions starting from HKD 1. Subscriptions and redemptions can be processed as fast as T+0,…

Payment Asia Group announced that it successfully implemented a B2B settlement use case with OSL Group and Anchorpoint Financial, featuring the regulated Hong Kong Dollar-backed stablecoin HKDAP for the logistics and hospitality businesses. The collaboration is said to have illustrated the full lifecycle, from fiat funding, token minting, and business-to-business payment through same-day reconciliation, redemption, and burn. Anchorpoint provided HKDAP issuance and redemption, OSL provided the digital asset infrastructure for distribution and settlement, and Payment Asia connected verified commercial services, payment instructions, and controls. Paul Tang, the Chief Operating Officer of Payment Asia, said, “Payment Asia’s role is to connect…

XTransfer, a global B2B cross-border trade payment platform, signed strategic cooperation agreements with China ZheShang Bank (CZ Bank) and Industrial Bank Co., Ltd. (CIB) during the 26th China International Fair for Investment and Trade. The XTransfer bank partnerships aim to focus on cross-border finance scenarios, which include minor-currency collection in emerging markets and RMB conversion and withdrawal. XTransfer and CZ Bank announced an all-currency settlement solution, enabled by the X-Net global local-collection network. The service will focus on Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. XTransfer and CIB aim to deepen collaboration in cross-border clearing and minor-currency collection, improving the…

Qupital has secured US$300 million in combined financing to support its overseas expansion and further develop its AI risk engine. The total comprises a Series C round led by Asia-based asset manager M Capital and asset-backed financing commitments from Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) and Quester Capital. The Hong Kong fintech provides trade financing to cross-border e-commerce businesses. It uses sales and operational data from platforms such as Amazon, TikTok Shop, Tmall and JD.com to assess borrowers and automate credit decisions. Qupital said it has processed more than US$9.5 billion in loans and served tens of thousands of businesses to…

The Hong Kong police have received more than 700 reports of unauthorised credit card transactions linked to Apple’s iPhone 18 Pro preorders. The charges total HK$14.7 million and were made over the weekend on cards issued by several different banks, according to the South China Morning Post. Preorders for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max opened at 8 pm on Saturday. Police shared on Sunday that they were treating the cases as obtaining property by deception, with one of the reported losses amounting to HK$114,000 on its own. Apple said it is reviewing all current orders before…

KUN Group has received approval-in-principle from Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission for three regulated activities. The approval covers Type 1, Type 4 and Type 9, spanning securities dealing, advisory work and asset management. Type 1 and Type 4 extend to virtual asset-related activities and services for retail clients. Type 9 covers general asset management. This is KUN Group’s first application for these regulated activities. The SFC approved all three in a single review. The SFC assessed KUN Group against its fit-and-proper, competence and internal-control requirements before granting the approval. In Hong Kong, KUN Group also holds a Money Service…

SUNMI Technology announced separate agreements with Turkey-based fintech company TOKEN and Mongolia-based digital bank M bank at the 11th Belt and Road Summit in Hong Kong. The SUNMI Eurasia partnerships will bring together SUNMI’s commercial IoT and digital commerce capabilities with its partners’ local expertise. In Mongolia, SUNMI and M bank will combine commercial devices, digital technology and digital financial services to explore new digital solutions for SME businesses. Meanwhile, in Turkey, SUNMI and TOKEN will explore digital commerce solutions for banks and offline merchants. This will involve merging SUNMI’s commercial IoT capabilities with TOKEN’s payment technology and local market…

Ripple has announced an expansion of GSmart, the treasury-native AI capabilities which are built into Ripple Treasury. GSmart embeds AI directly into the policies, data, and workflows treasury teams use daily. With the Ripple GSmart expansion, new policy-governed capabilities have been added across forecasting, risk, reconciliation and reporting. Renaat Ver Eecke, the SVP of Ripple Treasury, shared, “Rather than asking customers to blindly trust an AI system, GSmart works within each organisation’s own treasury policies to surface recommendations transparently, while ensuring humans remain in control of every decision. This isn’t simply AI-native treasury, but rather treasury-native AI.” The launch consists…

Pam Kaur, HSBC’s Group Chief Financial Officer, plans to leave the role in 2027. She will not stand for re-election as a director at the 2027 annual general meeting. Her exact retirement date will be confirmed later. It will be no later than the AGM. After leaving her full-time role, Kaur will take on an advisory role. She will support Group CEO Georges Elhedery on strategic projects. This will run until the end of 2028. The board has started a search for her successor. It will look at candidates from inside and outside the bank. “I am grateful for her…

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX), the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), and Nasdaq Dubai jointly announced the establishment of a Strategic Working Group. The Strategic Working Group aims to strengthen the ties between the financial markets of Hong Kong and the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). The Strategic Working Group brings together exchanges and regulators in Hong Kong and DIFC to explore opportunities and develop collaborative initiatives, including sustainable finance, Islamic finance, as well as broader capital markets development. The announcement was made during the HKMA-DFSA Joint Climate Finance Conference in Hong…

Global financial infrastructure company Unlimit has secured a money service operator license from the Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department. The regulatory approval allows the firm to build local payment channels for businesses operating across the Asia-Pacific region. The company will use Hong Kong as a hub to support its regional expansion. The London-based company recently appointed Michele Fung as Head of APAC. Fung will oversee the company’s strategy across the region, focusing on market expansion and growth. According to the 2025 Triennial Central Bank Survey, Hong Kong is the world’s fourth-largest foreign exchange centre, with average daily turnover reaching…

Reap has launched a Virtual Asset Ledger that allows clients of its card issuing platform to fund card spending directly from existing bitcoin and other virtual asset balances. The product enables users to spend digital assets at the point of sale, with conversion taking place at the platform’s live rate. Users do not need to convert their holdings to stablecoins or fiat beforehand. Historically, platforms enabling card spending from digital assets have either required users to convert their holdings into stablecoins or built bespoke treasury flows. Reap’s ledger handles conversion when a transaction occurs. The platform allows consumer fintechs and…

Citi plans to launch a blockchain-based cross-border payments service for Japanese companies this year, allowing businesses to execute instant foreign-currency transfers across key global hubs, including Hong Kong, outside standard banking hours. As reported by Nikkei Asia, Shahmir Khaliq, Head of Services at Citi, said the planned rollout would be the first time a foreign financial institution has offered this type of service to corporate customers in Japan. Traditional cross-border payments rely on standard banking hours and settlement calendars. Companies often have to send money in advance to account for international holidays, tying up capital and increasing funding costs. Tokenised…

OSL Group announced a partnership with Waka, a payments platform which connects emerging-market liquidity with global settlement. Through the OSL Waka partnership, OSL’s institutional stablecoin infrastructure, which provides stablecoin-to-USD fiat conversion and USD payout, will be integrated into Waka’s settlement infrastructure, which serves Africa-global trade corridors. April Long, the Founder and CEO of Waka, shared, “Our partnership with OSL adds institutional-grade stablecoin and fiat conversion capabilities across major currencies, strengthening the liquidity, reach and resilience of our global settlement network.” Kevin Cui, the Executive Director and CEO of OSL Group, added, “This collaboration with Waka shows OSL’s strength and capability…

Akulaku has confidentially filed for an initial public offering in Hong Kong, seeking to raise between US$300 million and US$500 million, IFR reported on Tuesday, according to The Standard. The filing marks a step up from June, when reports said Akulaku was only exploring a Hong Kong listing; some speculated a market debut as early as July, though no one confirmed it. Founded in 2016, the Jakarta-based company runs consumer financing, e-commerce and digital banking businesses, and counts Ant Group, IDG Capital and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group among its investors. Akulaku once considered a US listing before shifting its sights…

iFAST Financial (HK) Ltd (iFAST Hong Kong) announced an expansion of its Discretionary Portfolio Management Solutions lineup in Hong Kong with the launch of two new portfolios with collaboration from JP Morgan Asset Management (JPMAM). The iFAST JPMAM discretionary portfolios were made available to wealth advisers and their clients from last month. Glory Lau, General Manager, Platform Services of iFAST Hong Kong, shared, “Partnering with J.P. Morgan Asset Management allows us to bring institutional expertise to advisers and their clients here in Hong Kong.” The discretionary portfolio management solutions JP Morgan Asset Management advises on deploys JPMAM’s range of active…

Manulife Asia and Ant Health signed an MOU on September 7. The agreement will build connected healthcare services for customers in Hong Kong and mainland China. Customers often face a fragmented healthcare journey. They juggle multiple enquiries and coordinate each treatment step on their own, and the deal aims to fix that. The framework covers four areas including health management, cross-boundary healthcare support, digital health and insurance technology. “This collaboration reflects a shared belief that access to healthcare should be simpler, more connected and centred around the needs of customers,” said Steve Finch, President and CEO of Manulife Asia. “The…

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) launched a public consultation on Phase 2B prototype of the Hong Kong Taxonomy for Sustainable Finance (Hong Kong Taxonomy). Following its Phase 2A of the Hong Kong Taxonomy published earlier this year, the HKMA Phase 2B Hong Kong Taxonomy introduces a number of enhancements to enable Hong Kong as a leading hub for green and sustainable finance. This includes scaling financing towards climate change mitigation activities which are deemed crucial for elevating regional decarbonisation. Together with the recategorisation of select Phase 2A activities, the total number of economic activities has grown from 25 to…

Adyen has partnered with Limitless Technology Group, a Melbourne-based gifting e-commerce firm, to streamline the firm’s payment infrastructure across its portfolio of brands and markets. The brands under Limitless Technology Group include CakeRush, Flower Chimp, Bloomeroo, LVLY and Happy Bunch. Limitless Technology operates across six markets and manages its online storefronts, order fulfillment and business data through a centralised technology platform. Through the Adyen Limitless Technology partnership, all five brands will deploy Adyen’s direct local acquiring across Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia, as well as cross-border transactions in Indonesia and the Philippines. Niklas Frassa, the CEO and co-founder of…