OCBC is expending its wealth management team in Hong Kong by 30% this year to meet growing regional demand for investment and financing products, according to a report by Bloomberg. The Singapore-based lender plans to hire between 30 and 50 new relationship managers in the city. OCBC expects income from its Hong Kong wealth division to increase fivefold from 2023 levels. The bank is also introducing a new service tier this year aimed specifically at clients with at least US$1 million in assets. Wealth services have been a strong driver of profitability for OCBC, pushing its first quarter earnings past…

Hana Financial Group has agreed to acquire a 6.55% stake in digital asset operator Dunamu. The transaction is valued at 1 trillion won (US$669 million). A regulatory filing on Friday (May 15) confirmed the deal, according to Yonhap. Hana Bank will purchase the shares from Kakao Investment to become the platform’s fourth-largest shareholder. The partnership expands their cooperation beyond providing basic fiat accounts for cryptocurrency transactions. The companies plan to co-develop digital financial products, including stablecoin initiatives. South Korean regulators are currently pressuring local cryptocurrency exchanges to dilute major shareholder concentrations. Authorities want these platforms to improve their financial stability…

Reap has partnered with TerraPay to expand its cross-border payout network using domestic clearing systems. The integration connects Reap’s treasury platform with TerraPay’s single API for local payment rails. The companies aim to reduce costs and processing times for B2B payments across the Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, and the Middle East. Traditional cross-border corporate payments typically take several business days to settle and can cost 1 to 1.5% of the transaction value. The new infrastructure aims to reduce reliance on multi-hop correspondent banking networks. It does this by using intelligent routing and enabling direct settlement via local clearing systems…

Tencent reported a 9% increase in revenue from its fintech and business services division for the first quarter of 2026, reaching RMB59.9 billion (US$8.68 billion). According to the company, higher revenues from commercial payments and wealth management drove the growth in fintech services. Commercial payment activity grew at a faster year-on-year pace, supported by an increase in transaction numbers and higher value per transaction across the retail and dining sectors. Business services revenue surged by 20% during the first quarter. Higher demand for cloud services across domestic and international markets, including demand for AI-related services, supported this increase. “Our core…

Ant Group saw an estimated 79% decline in quarterly profit as the company accelerates its spending on AI, large language models, and global payment services. The profit drop is an estimate based on Bloomberg calculations derived from earnings data released by Alibaba Group, which owns a third of the fintech company. Ant Group contributed 375 million yuan to Alibaba for the three months ended December 31, translating to an estimated 1.13 billion yuan in total profit. In its own separate reporting period for the three months ended March, Alibaba recorded a 3% rise in revenue. The recent drop follows a…

Alibaba Group has released its financial results for the quarter and fiscal year ending 31 March 2026, reporting a 3% annual revenue increase to RMB 1.02 trillion (US$148.4 billion) while absorbing a sharp drop in operating income due to aggressive technology investments. As a dual-listed entity in New York and Hong Kong, the company is closely watched by regional investors tracking the integration of artificial intelligence into commerce and financial infrastructure. The financial report highlights a clear strategic shift towards AI and cloud computing. These specific sectors are becoming increasingly critical for digital payments platforms and financial institutions operating across…

OSL Group and Anchorpoint Financial have completed test transfers of the HKDAP stablecoin on the Ethereum mainnet. The test covered the lifecycle of converting fiat funding into reserve assets, fully backing the minting and transfer of the token. Standard Chartered provided the banking infrastructure and institutional trust services for the test. All HKDAP tokens were fully redeemed following the transfers. The companies are targeting a phased launch for the stablecoin by the end of the second quarter of this year. “Our HKDAP test trades align with OSL’s mission to make money move as freely as information,” said Kevin Cui, Executive…

After successfully building digital banks across two continents, Tyme Group is now eyeing their 3rd GoTyme Bank. Rachel Freeman, Chief Growth Officer, shared that they are looking to decide within the 12 months time frame and hinted at some potential markets. Anxin Leong, also weighed in on the IPO timing, explaining why a listing remains a matter of when, not if, but 2029 or 2030 is a more realistic window than the 2028 target previously floated by CEO Coen Jonker. In this episode: The shortlist for the third market and the 6 to 12 month decision window How the kiosk…

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the Insurance Authority (IA) have announced a cross-sector reference checking arrangement between the banking and insurance industries. The initiative aims to reduce the risk of financial professionals concealing past misconduct when moving across the broader financial services sector, addressing the “rolling bad apples” phenomenon. Both sectors already operate independent reference checking frameworks. The banking sector introduced its Mandatory Reference Checking Scheme in May 2023 for senior roles and expanded it in September 2025, while the insurance sector launched its scheme in September 2024 and broadened its scope in early 2026 to include technical…

Weixin Pay is expanding its merchant footprint in Australia, rolling out its digital wallet across 12 major tourist attractions in Tropical North Queensland to capture the returning wave of Chinese outbound travellers. The integration covers high-demand locations across Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef, including diving operators, cruise providers, wildlife parks and rainforest tours. Participating merchants in the region and on Hamilton Island are pairing the payment option with targeted incentives to encourage on-ground spending. For payment providers and the broader tourism sector, the rollout highlights the growing reliance on integrated digital payment solutions to capture cross-border transaction volumes. Providing…

XTransfer has expanded its X-Net settlement infrastructure into Latin America, aiming to address persistent cross-border payment challenges faced by SMEs engaged in international trade. X-Net is a B2B cross-border settlement and risk management network that connects banks and financial institutions with SMEs. The platform standardises collections, payouts, and compliance workflows, with the goal of reducing friction around account access, foreign exchange costs, settlement delays, and regulatory complexity. The expansion comes as trade activity between China and Latin America continues to accelerate. XTransfer reported a 94% year-on-year increase in Latin America collections in 2025. This significantly outpaced China’s 8% export growth…

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has launched a Digital Licensing Platform to process senior management appointments for authorised institutions, according to an official circular. The system handles applications under section 71 of the Banking Ordinance, which covers individuals seeking regulatory approval to become Chief Executives, alternate Chief Executives, or Directors. The portal introduces automated workflows to replace manual submissions. Key features include web-based forms with auto-fill and skip logic, electronic signatures, and the issuance of electronic approval letters. “The platform facilitates a paperless licensing process,” said Alan Au, Executive Director of Banking Conduct at the HKMA. “It will help…

Alipay AI Pay has launched a delegated purchasing feature on Taobao, allowing users to authorise an AI assistant to monitor prices and execute transactions on their behalf. The tool integrates with Alibaba’s Qwen AI model to offer a conversational shopping experience. Users can instruct the assistant to find specific items at desired price points. The feature uses a single-use authorisation model, and the company says it enables safe automated shopping. Shoppers initiate the process by messaging the AI assistant within the Taobao application with a product and price request. After selecting a preferred item from the curated results, users authenticate…

Hang Seng Bank has introduced Hong Kong stock trading on its Hang Seng Business Mobile Banking app, giving corporate customers a new digital channel to manage liquidity and investment activity. The update extends the bank’s existing online securities trading service from its desktop e-banking platform to mobile. Corporate users can now complete securities account activation directly on their smartphones. Once activated, the app provides unlimited real-time Hong Kong stock quotes at no additional charge. It also features automatic profit and loss calculations to track securities holdings, alongside a real-time portfolio overview. Hang Seng said the launch responds to growing demand…

UOB Private Bank has appointed Paul Zhou as Market Head for Greater China to drive its wealth management expansion across the region. The appointment takes effect on 11 May 2026, according to finews. The Singapore-based bank is aiming to increase its footprint among high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients in mainland China and the broader Greater China region. For Paul Zhou, UOB is a familiar environment. He transitions to the private banking arm from UOB China, where he has served as Head of Sales and Distribution since 2018. During his tenure there, he directed the wealth management and secured lending teams, as…

SUNMI Technology Group Co., Ltd, a Business IoT (BIoT) leader, was officially listed on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under stock code 06810.HK. Inside the trading hall of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, founder, chairman and CEO Jack Lin, together with the core management team, rang the ceremonial listing gong for the SUNMI Technology HKEX listing, marking the official entry of SUNMI Technology into the international capital market. The SUNMI Hong Kong IPO oversubscribed more than 2,000 times, raising over HK$1 billion with an opening price of HK$97.5 per share, up 292.2% from the issue price,…

What is stopping businesses from fully tapping a US$336 billion cross-border payments opportunity? Ask the merchants trying to sell beyond their home markets, and the answer often comes back to infrastructure. They would say that payments may look simple at the point of sale, but the work behind it is not. They grow heavier with every new corridor. Each market adds another layer of work behind the payment itself, and those hidden demands can narrow margins long before a business reaches meaningful scale. Kozen Tan, CEO, Singapore of LianLian Global, sees the consequences of this fragmentation firsthand, particularly as businesses…

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has launched the HKMA Cargox pilot programme, partnering with 21 banks to digitalise trade finance and improve credit access for local SMEs. The initiative uses the city’s Commercial Data Interchange (CDI) data infrastructure to test new cargo and trade data use cases. By integrating this alternative data into existing banking operations, the regulator aims to address existing pain points that importers and exporters face when applying for financing. Scheduled to run through 2026 and 2027, the pilot projects will test four main areas. These include connecting banks with major cargo platforms, combining SME trade…

Payward, the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, is acquiring Hong Kong-based payments infrastructure firm Reap for up to US$600 million to expand its B2B financial services platform. The transaction, structured as a mix of cash and stock, values Payward at US$20 billion. It will integrate Reap’s stablecoin-native card issuance and cross-border settlement tools into Payward Services, giving partners a single connection point for digital and traditional financial products. “Reap is the payments layer for what comes next,” said Arjun Sethi, Co-CEO of Payward. “Card networks, banking rails, and blockchains on a single API, settling in stablecoins. The infrastructure for…

Chinese B2B cross-border payments company XTransfer has filed for an IPO in Hong Kong to raise US$186 million. The company submitted its listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX), according to GuruFocus. UBS and CICC are underwriting the offering. XTransfer counts China Merchants Venture and Alibaba among its pre-IPO investors. The company plans to list under a weighted voting rights (WVR) structure, with certain shares carrying ten votes each. Founder and Chief Executive Bill Deng will retain full control of these enhanced voting rights. Founded in 2017, XTransfer provides payment settlement services for SMEs. The company recently completed…