Standard Chartered and A*STAR are jointly investing S$15 million in a new Singapore lab focused on AI applications for banking and financial services. The three-year partnership will establish an AI for Banking Innovation Lab with A*STAR’s Institute of High Performance Computing, bringing together scientists, researchers and the bank’s internal teams to develop applied tools for financial services. The collaboration builds on earlier work between SC Ventures and A*STAR IHPC. Initial areas of focus include portfolio optimisation, fraud detection and natural language processing. One project already underway is developing a natural language interface that lets relationship managers query structured databases without…

Sea has established an AI Centre of Excellence in Singapore to deepen its in-house AI capabilities and speed up deployment across its businesses. The centre was set up with support from Digital Industry Singapore, a joint office of the Economic Development Board, Enterprise Singapore and the Infocomm Media Development Authority. The initiative will support both AI research and business applications, while advancing its proprietary technology stack and broader ambition to become an AI-native company. The AI CoE will focus on foundation model development, evaluation frameworks and internal tooling, while also turning research into production-ready applications that can be deployed at…

OCBC, Lion Global Investors and DigiFT have launched the GOLDX token, describing it as Southeast Asia’s first tokenised physical gold fund available on a public blockchain. The token will be issued on Ethereum and Solana and gives institutional investors and corporate accredited investors on-chain exposure to the LionGlobal Singapore Physical Gold Fund, which is managed by Lion Global Investors. Through DigiFT, eligible investors can subscribe using stablecoins or fiat currencies, receive the token in their blockchain wallets and later redeem it for stablecoins or fiat currencies. According to OCBC, the launch of the tokenised physical gold fund brings together three…

In 2026, BlackRock and JPMorgan Asset Management remained the top fund brands in Asia-Pacific (APAC), cited by fund selectors as their preferred suppliers based on attributes including their solidity, the appeal of their investment strategies, and their client-oriented thinking, according to the 2026 Broadridge Fund Brand 50 (FB50). The annual ranking was derived from Broadridge’s Global Fund Buyer Focus Intelligence and intensive interviews with more than 1,300 of the most significant fund selectors in Europe, APAC, and the US. Participants were asked to name their top-three suppliers across 10 attributes spanning expertise, innovation, as well as social responsibility and sustainability.…

Malaysia is a global leader in Islamic finance. But are Islamic banks delivering the kind of digital experience customers now expect? In this Fintech News Network roundtable, senior leaders across Malaysia’s banking and fintech ecosystem debate the digital maturity of Islamic banking, the gaps that still remain, and where the biggest opportunities for innovation lie. The discussion covers UX, ethical banking, Sharia compliance, personalization, Islamic wealth management, financial literacy, cloud migration, legacy infrastructure, and what it will take to move from compliance to genuinely better customer experiences. Speakers featured: Dafinah Ahmed Hilmi, CEO, HLB Islamic Aizuddin Danian, Chief Personal Banking…

Databricks has appointed Simon Davies as its Senior Vice President and General Manager for Asia Pacific and Japan. Based in Singapore, Davies will lead Databricks’ business across the region, overseeing strategy, operations and growth across Australia and New Zealand, ASEAN, India, Japan, Korea and Greater China. Davies brings more than 30 years of experience in enterprise technology, data and cloud services to the role. Most recently, he served as SAP’s Regional President for Asia Pacific, where he led strategy, operations, people, sales, services, partners and profitability across the region. Prior to that, he was Senior Vice President and General Manager…

Pablo Hernández de Cos, General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), warned that wider use of stablecoins in their current form could create policy challenges from credit provision to monetary policy. Speaking at a Bank of Japan seminar in Tokyo, he said stablecoins offer features such as programmability, atomic settlement and faster cross-border transfers, but remain limited in their broader financial role. Stablecoins Still See Limited Real Economy Use The BIS official noted that stablecoins are still used mainly within the crypto ecosystem for trading, collateral and access to US dollar-denominated assets. Global stablecoin market capitalisation stood at…

HSBC’s planned sale of retail banking assets in Indonesia has attracted several regional lenders, with OCBC now emerging as the lead contender, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The Singapore bank is seeking a deal that could value HSBC’s consumer business in the country at more than 6 trillion rupiah. The potential acquisition would strengthen OCBC’s position in Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy, where regional banks have been looking for room to expand. Bloomberg previously reported that DBS, UOB, CIMB and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group were also exploring bids for the assets, underscoring the level of interest in…

As fraud losses mount, organizations across sectors including fintech, e-commerce, and gaming, are accelerating their integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into fraud, risk, and compliance functions. A new study by SEON, a fraud prevention and AML compliance specialist, polled 1,010 fraud, risk, and compliance leaders, and found that AI is now baseline infrastructure for digital-first organizations, with 98% of respondents reporting that their teams already integrated AI into day-to-day workflows. Transaction monitoring is the most common and mature application of AI and machine learning (ML), utilized by 30% of the organizations polled. This adoption highlights the effectiveness of AI in…

In Asia-Pacific (APAC), the fraud landscape has evolved into a highly industrialized, AI-driven ecosystem. Criminal syndicates are operating as synchronized global networks that share sophisticated tactics with their global counterparts. Autonomous AI agents, deepfakes, and voice cloning are being used to execute large-scale, and orchestrated attacks with unprecedented efficiency. Meanwhile, Southeast Asia is emerging as a global epicenter for scam activity and human trafficking, fueled by the proliferation of scam centers in border regions of Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos. This collection of whitepapers, reports, and interviews examines this rapidly evolving landscape in 2025 and 2026, addressing critical offensive and defensive…

Singapore has urged banks to review and strengthen their cyber safeguards as authorities respond to growing concern over Anthropic’s Mythos AI system. According to Bloomberg, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is coordinating with the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore to strengthen protections for critical infrastructure operators, including banks. The MAS comments came in response to Bloomberg’s queries about the risks linked to Mythos. The regulator said financial institutions should step up efforts to identify weaknesses in their systems, fix exposed vulnerabilities quickly and maintain strong cyber hygiene, including timely patching. It also warned that advances in artificial intelligence are…

UOB is seeing stronger traction in Southeast Asia after integrating Citi’s retail banking businesses in four markets, according to a report by The Business Times. Speaking at the bank’s annual general meeting, Deputy Chairman and CEO Wee Ee Cheong said the acquisition is now contributing more clearly to UOB’s regional retail growth after a lengthy integration process. The S$4.9 billion deal was announced in January 2022 and covered Citi’s retail banking businesses in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. UOB noted that the integration has expanded its regional scale, with the bank now serving more than 8.5 million customers across ASEAN.…

Organized crime has evolved into a synchronized global ecosystem, with Southeast Asian groups sharing sophisticated fraud techniques with their Latin American (LatAm) counterparts. At the same time, attacks targeting iOS devices are accelerating, fueled by advanced injection techniques. Meanwhile, rapid advancements of accessible artificial intelligence (AI) tools is driving a proliferation of hyperrealistic deepfakes in corporate environments, posing significant challenges to current active liveness solutions. These threats are among the top trends emerging this year highlighted by iProov, a provider of science-based biometric identity verification solutions, in a new report. Drawn on data from the iProov Security Operations Center (iSOC),…

Former Trust Bank Chief Strategy Officer Nick Woodruff has joined SC Ventures as Head of Early-Stage Ventures. The move follows his departure from Trust Bank, where he spent five years as part of the founding team and held roles spanning strategy, product, marketing and Gen AI. Prior to joining Trust Bank, Woodruff spent a decade at Standard Chartered and earlier held roles at Finsbury Glover Hering, and Barclays. He said, “During my time at Trust Bank Singapore and FGS Global, I’ve seen first-hand the positive impact of venture building, particularly the ability to learn fast and create strategic optionality. I’m…

American Express (Amex) has agreed to acquire Hypercard, known as Hyper, an agentic expense management company, as it looks to strengthen AI capabilities across its commercial services business. The deal brings in Hyper’s team of AI experts as American Express builds agentic tools and other AI-powered solutions to help businesses automate processes and simplify operations. “Our customers want smarter, more efficient ways to manage expenses so they can focus on what’s next for their business, and AI has the potential to transform the way businesses get things done. We’re thrilled to welcome Hyper, a team with deep expertise in designing…

Sumsub has launched a free online fraud prevention course through its academy for professionals working in risk, compliance, and fraud. The programme is aimed at professionals including risk managers, internal auditors, anti-fraud strategy professionals, AML compliance officers, and senior management. It covers digital fraud risks, detection methods, and operational best practices. It features 26 micro-learning sessions across six modules on digital fraud foundations, fraud lifecycle, entities and data, fraud signals and detection methods, common fraud schemes, industry-specific risks, and the operation of a fraud prevention function. The course also includes sector-specific sessions on crypto, financial services, iGaming, marketplaces, and e-commerce.…

Airwallex has launched a point-of-sale (POS) payments product designed to bring online and in-store payments together on a single platform. The new offering, Airwallex POS Payments, is now available in the UK, Europe, Hong Kong and Singapore, with the US and Australia next on the roadmap. The launch marks Airwallex’s expansion into in-person payments, as more businesses look to reduce the fragmentation between their online and offline payment systems. Airwallex is positioning the product as a way to bring online and in-store payments together through one integration across multiple markets. The system can integrate with existing point-of-sale, order management, enterprise…

Brazilian payments firm Ebanx is adding Thailand, Indonesia and Turkey to its network as it prepares to enter Malaysia and Vietnam next quarter, according to Reuters. The move marks a further step in its Southeast Asia expansion as Ebanx builds out payment coverage across more emerging markets. Ebanx supports global merchants including Uber and Shein, connecting them with local payment options in markets where card usage is still limited. More of Ebanx’s gross profit is now coming from outside Brazil. In 2025, 65 percent came from other countries, up from 32 percent in 2021, while 20 percent came from markets…

Google Pay has introduced Pocket Money, a feature built on the National Payments Corporation of India’s UPI Circle framework. It allows users to enable UPI payments for family members, friends or employees who do not have their own bank accounts. An existing Google Pay user acts as the primary user, while the added person becomes a secondary user. Payments made by the secondary user are routed through the primary user’s linked bank account. Primary users can add up to five secondary users, provided they are saved in their phone contacts, have Google Pay registered with their mobile number, and have…

Backbase and Ninth Wave have formed a strategic partnership to provide banks with direct connectivity between corporate ERP systems and banking data. The integration allows financial institutions using the Backbase platform to offer business clients a secure link to accounting software, aimed at improving cash flow visibility and payment execution. The collaboration between Backbase and Ninth Wave uses an API-first connectivity layer to manage consent, activity logs, and governance within a single platform. This bridge facilitates real-time data transfer with integrated compliance controls, removing the need for manual workarounds or data scraping. The partnership focuses on embedding banking services directly…