Author: Fintech News Singapore

Singapore is moving closer to regulating stablecoin issuers under a dedicated framework. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is seeking feedback on changes to the Payment Services Act 2019. These would establish the requirements issuers must meet to qualify as MAS-regulated stablecoin issuers. Who Can Use the MAS Stablecoin Label Only issuers licensed under the regime could describe themselves as MAS-regulated stablecoin issuers or market their tokens as “MAS-regulated stablecoins”. The restriction is intended to help users distinguish these tokens from other cryptocurrencies marketed as stablecoins without equivalent safeguards to preserve their value. Non-MAS-regulated stablecoins would be treated as digital…

TMBThanachart Bank (ttb) and DBS Bank have partnered to expand wealth management services for retail investors in Thailand. Under the first phase, eligible clients of DBS Vickers Securities Thailand (DBSVT) will be invited to transfer their Thai baht-denominated holdings to ttb wealth securities, ttb’s wealth management subsidiary. These may include securities, derivatives, cash and other assets. The transfer requires client consent and is subject to applicable regulatory requirements. It is expected to be completed by May 2027. DBSVT will begin contacting eligible clients from 31 August 2026 with details of the transfer. Those who agree will retain uninterrupted access to…

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will invest S$220 million over three years to advance fintech innovation and technology adoption. The funding will be provided through the fourth edition of the Financial Sector Technology and Innovation Scheme, known as FSTI 4.0. The scheme aims to anchor innovation activities in Singapore, encourage the use of frontier technologies and develop shared infrastructure and talent. Six Tracks Target Technology and Talent FSTI 4.0 comprises six tracks covering institutional projects, manpower, AI adoption, infrastructure, centres of excellence and industry awards. MAS will co-fund internship stipends and aims to support at least 1,000 opportunities over…

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) has identified cyber risk as the most immediate financial stability concern arising from frontier AI. In a letter to G20 finance ministers and central bank governors, Chair Andrew Bailey warned that increasingly capable models could change the speed, scale and economics of cyber threats. “For the financial system, the most immediate concern is the potential impact of frontier AI on cyber risk. Frontier AI may have the ability materially to alter the speed, scale and economics of cyber risk, which could undermine market confidence system-wide, especially due to highly concentrated third-party service providers,” Bailey wrote.…

The artificial intelligence (AI) economy in Vietnam is projected to reach between US$120 billion and 130 billion by 2040. This remarkable growth attributed to a significant boost in productivity and a surge in consumption-driven revenue, according a new report by the Vietnam National Innovation Centre (NIC), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and Boston Consulting Group (BCG). By 2040, AI is poised to contribute up to US$130 billion to the domestic economy. This contribution will include a growth in consumption-driven revenue, which is set to generate US$45 billion to US$55 billion by then, fueled by increasing demand for AI-powered products…

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has backed tokenised deposits as a stronger foundation for future payments than stablecoins. BIS General Manager Pablo Hernández de Cos outlined the position at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium on 28 August. Tokenised deposits could enable programmable payments while remaining connected to central bank money. This would help ensure they remain redeemable at face value. By contrast, Hernández de Cos said stablecoins “do not yet uphold the foundational properties of money”. Transfers between tokens such as USDT and USDC may require secondary market trades where prices can deviate from their intended value, particularly during…

Advent International and Stripe have reportedly ended their pursuit of PayPal after making an offer worth more than US$50 billion. Bloomberg reported the decision, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter. The bidders could still revive their interest at a later stage. Reuters reported in July that Stripe and Advent had offered US$60.50 per share, valuing PayPal at more than US$53 billion. The board reportedly considered the price inadequate while also weighing financing certainty, regulatory risks and the time required to complete a transaction. PayPal shares fell 12.7% following the latest report, closing at US$53.66 on 28 August. The acquisition…

500 Global reportedly does not plan to raise another fund focused exclusively on Southeast Asia. New investments in the region may instead be made through its global funds, DealStreetAsia reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Southeast Asian companies would consequently be considered alongside businesses from other markets. The change contrasts with 500 Global’s expansion in 2023, when it secured US$100 million for its third regional early-stage fund and US$43 million for a growth vehicle. Earlier that year, the firm appointed Saemin Ahn, Martin Cu and Shahril Ibrahim to develop its Southeast Asian growth investment operations. Cu departed in August…

Nium now allows businesses to fund their accounts with USDC and make fiat payouts in more than 190 countries. Deposited USDC is automatically converted into US dollars and credited to the customer’s Nium account. The funds can then be sent in local currencies through the company’s existing payment network. Existing clients do not need to add a new integration or manage crypto wallets and private keys. Nium’s regulated infrastructure partners handle the receipt and conversion of USDC. “Every business we talk to is sitting on the same problem in a different wrapper – they either have capital trapped in pre-funded…

Huawei Cloud has launched CodeArts Agent commercially in Singapore to automate engineering tasks through 16 specialised AI agents. Built for complex, large-scale projects, the tool supports code generation, technical queries and automated unit testing. Its agents cover the development lifecycle from requirements analysis and architecture design to coding, testing, troubleshooting and code review. They can work together to plan and complete long-duration assignments. CodeArts Agent also includes more than 30 reusable engineering skills based on Huawei’s software practices. It can understand and retrieve code across tens of millions of lines, providing the project context needed to extend and update existing…

Across Asia-Pacific (APAC), cybercrime syndicates are increasingly employing decentralization strategies to evade detection and disruption, according to a new report by the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG), a regional inter-governmental body based in Australia. This comes in response to the intensified efforts of law enforcement and regulatory authorities to dismantle these large-scale criminal groups. The AGP research, which involved polling public sector agencies and private sector entities and interviewing industry stakeholders, revealed that 35% of its member jurisdictions have encountered or been aware of instances of decentralization. Specifically, members have observed the dissipation of scam centre compounds, particularly following…

HSBC is considering bringing its wholesale, retail and private banking businesses in Singapore together, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The lender has not confirmed whether the reorganisation will proceed. It told Bloomberg that it regularly reviews its organisational structure for opportunities to simplify it. The bank added that the ownership, management and resolution arrangements for its Asia-Pacific banking entities would remain unchanged. Its main banking activities in the city-state are currently split between a local subsidiary and a branch. HSBC Bank (Singapore) has housed the lender’s retail banking and wealth management business since May 2016. The group…

AWS will deploy 2 million more NVIDIA GPUs across its global infrastructure in 2027 and 2028. The expansion follows its earlier plan to add more than 1 million NVIDIA GPUs starting in 2026. The new capacity will include Blackwell Ultra, Rubin and Rubin Ultra GPUs for agentic AI, scientific discovery, enterprise automation and physical AI. The companies will also expand their work across processors, networking, AI models and data processing. AWS plans to introduce NVIDIA Vera processor infrastructure and explore using NVIDIA’s high-bandwidth memory with future Trainium chips. They also plan to build AI factories for the US government, including…

Visa has upgraded its AI cybersecurity framework to help organisations find and fix vulnerabilities faster. The latest Visa Vulnerability Agentic Harness, or VVAH, extends the open-source and model-agnostic framework into remediation and validation. Visa reports that some attack paths can now be resolved in hours rather than weeks. “AI is compressing the time between vulnerability discovery and exploitation, which means defenders need a faster, more reliable path to action. By advancing VVAH and expanding our cybersecurity advisory capabilities, we’re helping organizations move from insight to validated remediation while strengthening resilience in an increasingly AI-driven threat landscape.” said Rajat Taneja, President…

Swift has pushed back a November deadline for structured postal addresses in ISO 20022 payment messages after several industry groups requested more time. The industry agreed to adopt the requirement in 2023 as part of Standards Release 2026, but readiness remains uneven across all regions. Swift will consult banks, central banks, payment market infrastructures, market practice groups and corporate clients before providing an update on the revised timing and approach by December at the latest. All payment changes planned under the release have been deferred, with other updates to be phased in separately. Changes covering securities, trade and other transaction…

UOB and HSBC have completed live cross-border Hong Kong dollar transactions using tokenised deposits on Swift’s ledger. The transactions make UOB the first Singapore-headquartered bank to conduct live transactions on the blockchain-based ledger. Swift announced in July 2026 that the ledger was ready for initial use, with 17 banks across six continents preparing to pilot live tokenised deposit transactions. UOB expects to conduct Singapore dollar and US dollar transactions with other partner banks on the ledger in September. The transactions will examine how the technology could improve liquidity management and support round-the-clock interbank payments. The initiative will also explore the…

Across the fintech landscape in ASEAN, artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled services are recognized as a critical future skill domain. However, according to a new report by the Asian Development Bank, this skill set remains underdeveloped across the region, especially in Indonesia and Vietnam. Released in August 2026, the report shares findings from a research comprising a literature review, a regional survey, as well as stakeholder engagement through a senior roundtable to identify fintech workforce gaps across Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. The research found that AI-enabled services are the least developed technical skill in ASEAN’s fintech landscape. Unsurprisingly, Singapore emerged…

Singapore recorded fewer scams in the first half of 2026 but victims still lost S$410.6 million. Reported cases fell 14.4% year on year to 16,821, according to Singapore’s Mid-Year Scam and Cybercrime Brief 2026. Losses declined 17.9% from S$500.2 million. Scams accounted for more than nine in 10 scam and cybercrime cases recorded between January and June. The median loss fell 19.8% to S$1,350, while 4.7% of cases involved at least S$100,000. Victims made the transfers themselves in 80.8% of reported cases. Scammers usually manipulated them through deception and social engineering rather than gaining direct access to their accounts. Investment…

TRM Labs has appointed former Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) official Ziqing Ang to lead its policy work across APAC. As Head of Policy for APAC, Ang will engage regulators, policymakers, law enforcement agencies and private institutions on digital asset crime and emerging threats. She spent more than eight years at MAS in financial markets development and reserve management. Her work included supporting Singapore’s capital markets initiatives, managing fixed income portfolios and contributing to research for the country’s official foreign reserves. Ang later joined digital asset bank Sygnum as Vice President of Business Development, where she supported adoption among institutional…

DBS and Stripe are teaming up to help Asian businesses accept payments and manage funds across international markets. The partnership combines DBS’ pan-Asian banking network with Stripe’s global financial infrastructure. Stripe will use DBS’ digital banking and money movement services to help merchants collect payments across borders. The bank’s cash management services will also help Stripe manage liquidity across its corporate entities as the company expands in Asia and develops into a full-stack financial infrastructure provider. DBS will explore using Stripe’s global platform and embedded finance services to extend its cross-border network, helping institutional clients reach a wider international customer…