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…

Ping An Digital Bank has launched a Purchase Order Financing product specifically for cross-border e-commerce businesses. The Ping An PO Financing product does not require traditional collateral. Eligible businesses can apply for financing with a ratio of up to 95% of accounts receivable which is based on eligible invoices, up to USD 5 million and at a repayment period of up to 120 days. The approval and drawdown process could be completed as fast as T+1 business days. Thomas Tung, the Chief Business Officer for Ping An Digital Bank, shared that the launch of Purchase Order Financing integrates credit insurance…

Eight of China’s central financial enterprises are getting a capital top-up. The Ministry of Finance will fund it by raising 300 billion yuan (approximately US$42 Billion) through special treasury bonds. The move follows decisions by the Communist Party’s Central Committee and the State Council. The ministry says it will proceed under market-oriented, rule-of-law principles. Three of the eight firms are banks. They are Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), and The Export-Import Bank of China. The other five are insurers. They are China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation, People’s Insurance Company (Group) of China…

In H1 2026, fintech deals in Asia-Pacific (APAC) declined, fueled by a reassessment of late-stage valuations, regulatory changes, and geopolitical concerns. According to a new report by KPMG, fintech investments in the region stood at US$4.6 billion across 350 deals in H1 2026, down from US$7.1 billion across 426 deals in H2 2025. VC deals drove much of this activity, accounting for many of the largest transactions in APAC. These transactions included a US$900 million raise by India-based rewards-focused credit management platform CRED, a US$320 million raise by Singapore-based payments company Airwallex, a US$280 million raise by India-based loan platform…

KB Kookmin Bank will launch an import/export corporate payment service, which will use Kinexys by JP Morgan’s Blockchain Deposit Account (BDA) network. KB Kookmin Bank is reportedly the first among Korean financial institutions to use this network for payment services for import export companies. The KB Kookmin Bank blockchain payments service, enabled by JP Morgan’s Kinexys, will be available at KB Kookmin Bank’s domestic branches in Korea and its Singapore branch. Remittances will be supported for 10 countries: the United States, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, India, Thailand, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, South Africa, and Korea. Once the service starts,…

Citi Hong Kong is rolling out a virtual credit card with a dynamic card validation code (CVC), developed with Mastercard. The feature creates a one-time verification code for each new online transaction. If a code goes unused within its validity period, it refreshes automatically. Customers access it through the Citi Mobile App. There, the virtual card number sits alongside the physical card rather than replacing it. The dynamic CVC runs on Mastercard’s tokenisation infrastructure. This replaces sensitive card details with unique digital codes, so even if a token is intercepted, it cannot be reused. Citi is positioning the virtual card…

The New York Stock Exchange, part of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE) and Korea Exchange (KRX), the securities exchange operator in the Republic of Korea, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on a set of key business activities for expanding access to global capital markets. The NYSE Korea Exchange partnership is said to cover settlement cycle modernisation, extended trading hours, ETFs as well as market data and index products. Lynn Martin, President, NYSE Group, shared, “We are excited to formalize this collaboration and work on streamlining access to the world’s most liquid capital market for global investors.” Eun-Bo…

Cross-border payments are expected to reach US$290 trillion by 2030, but moving money across markets is still harder than it should be. Banks, wallets, cards, real-time payment systems, stablecoins and digital asset wallets are all growing. The challenge now is not adding more rails. It is making them work together across currencies, regulations and local payment networks. This webinar will bring together thought leaders to explore: How global payments are shifting from traditional rails to connected ecosystems Why more payment choice is creating new challenges around liquidity, compliance and customer access Where stablecoins and digital assets fit into real cross-border…

Dyna.Ai has been selected as a technology partner in Hong Kong’s first cohort of its Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) Sandbox++, jointly launched by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), the Insurance Authority (IA), and the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority (MPFA), and in collaboration with Cyberport. Dyna.Ai shared that this is the second consecutive shortlist the company has had by Hong Kong’s financial regulators. The company intends to focus on deploying production-ready agentic AI capabilities and governance harnesses. Cynthia Siantar, the General Manager of Singapore and Hong Kong at Dyna.Ai, shared, “We’re honoured to…

The Bank of East Asia, Limited (BEA) and Anchorpoint Financial Limited (Anchorpoint) signed an MoU to establish a partnership on 28 August 2026. The BEA Anchorpoint partnership will position BEA as one of the first batch of banks to partner with Anchorpoint on exploring HKDAP digital asset initiatives, which is the regulated HKD-backed stablecoin. BEA will collaborate with Anchorpoint to explore real-world use cases for HKD-backed stablecoins supporting compliant financial solutions to customers. Zinnser Hong, the Group Chief Innovation Officer, General Manager and Head of Innovation Office of BEA, shared, “This partnership with Anchorpoint marks a major milestone in accelerating…

Aspire has introduced Aspire Yield, a product which enables businesses to earn returns on idle USD and HKD balances within their Aspire account. The Aspire Yield Hong Kong launch follows AFT HK Treasury Limited, a company under Aspire Group, securing a Type 1 (dealing in securities), Type 4 (advising on securities), and Type 9 (asset management) licence from the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) of Hong Kong. The licence allows AFT HK Treasury Limited to offer regulated investment services. Andrea Baronchelli, the Co-founder and CEO of Aspire, shared, “The most ambitious businesses don’t think about banking, payments and treasury as…

Digital bank Ant Bank and embedded financial solutions provider Bettr have been selected to participate in Hong Kong’s GenAI Sandbox++, focusing on the liquidity risk management track. The Ant Bank Better partnership will deliver granular daily forecasts, supporting more precise liquidity planning for the bank’s real-time treasury management. Ant Bank will use Ant International’s Falcon Time-Series Transformer (TST) AI Model 2.0 to enhance its FX and liquidity management capabilities. Bettr’s Platform Tech will support the deployment of Falcon TST 2.0 for Ant Bank’s treasury team to enhance liquidity planning. Ant International recently introduced TST 2.0, saying the model achieved state-of-the-art…

Visa has announced that it is partnering with Bank of China (Hong Kong) (BOCHK) in the GenA.I. Sandbox++. With the Visa BOCHK partnership, the pilot will conduct proof-of-concept testing. It aims to connect BOCHK’s AI Agent within the BOC Pay+ ecosystem with servicing platforms like OpenRice and China Mobile Hong Kong (CMHK), thereby enabling secure, consent-based agentic commerce in a risk-controlled sandbox environment. Visa will provide the infrastructure, controls and connectivity that are necessary for the AI agents to discover, initiate, and complete transactions. Paulina Leong, General Manager of Visa Hong Kong and Macau, shared, “Visa’s role is to provide…

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), the Insurance Authority (IA), and the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority (MPFA), with the Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited (Cyberport), announced the first cohort of the Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) Sandbox++. 36 use cases have been selected for the first cohort of the GenAI Sandbox++, involving 30 financial institutions and 27 technology partners. All the proposals were prioritised based on innovation, technical complexity and potential value to the financial industry, including advice by a selection committee consisting of academic experts. The testing will cover end-to-end processes, like…