OxPay Financial has secured a Financial Services Licence (FSL) in Bhutan for its wholly owned Oxygen7 subsidiary, which plans to launch a regulated crypto payment platform in 2026. The licence was granted by the Gelephu Financial Services Office, after Oxygen7 met the conditions tied to its November 2025 in-principle approval. It allows Oxygen7 to provide merchant payment and business remittance services to companies in Gelephu Mindfulness City (GMC). Businesses will be able to accept credit card, e-wallet and cryptocurrency payments from international customers without direct exposure to price volatility. Oxygen7 will also use stablecoins for business-to-business cross-border transfers. The services…

Banks across Asia Pacific are navigating a period of rapid change in the payment ecosystem. Mobile wallets, digital commerce, and real-time payments have become part of everyday financial activity. The shift toward alternative payment methods is accelerating, with Accenture estimating that up to US$13 trillion in transaction value could move away from traditional banking channels by 2030. At the same time, cards continue to play a critical role in powering online transactions, digital wallets, and international payments.  For many financial institutions in the region, however, innovation is constrained by legacy infrastructure. Core systems that were originally designed decades ago remain…

Companies seeking dual listings on both SGX and Nasdaq could go through a more streamlined IPO process under proposed rule changes by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). MAS has issued its response to a public consultation on proposed amendments to the Securities and Futures Act 2001 to support dual listings on the Singapore Exchange. The changes support the planned Global Listing Board, a partnership between SGX and Nasdaq announced in November 2025, and are intended to facilitate similar collaborations in future. Under the proposed MAS dual listings framework, eligible issuers on the Global Listing Board may use a single…

Stripe is pushing deeper into AI commerce with 288 new products and features covering agent payments, fraud controls, stablecoin micropayments and business banking tools. The announcements were made at Stripe Sessions, the company’s annual customer conference. Google Partnership Expands AI Commerce Stripe is partnering Google to allow businesses to sell to consumers inside AI Mode and the Gemini app. The partnership adds Google support to Stripe’s Agentic Commerce Suite, which lets businesses sell inside AI applications through a single integration. The suite is already being used by businesses including Kate Spade, Best Buy and Coach. Stripe said Quince, Fanatics and…

Visa has added five blockchains to its stablecoin settlement pilot as the programme reaches a US$7 billion annualised run rate. The new additions are Arc, Base, Canton, Polygon and Tempo. They join Avalanche, Ethereum, Solana and Stellar, bringing the total number of supported blockchains to nine. Visa said the expansion broadens the settlement networks available to issuers and acquirers as stablecoins move further into payment flows. The pilot’s annualised stablecoin settlement run rate has grown 50 percent from the previous quarter. Rubail Birwadker, Global Head of Growth Products and Strategic Partnerships at Visa, said, Our partners are building in a…

PayPal is restructuring its business into three divisions and appointing new leaders across key growth areas. The company will move to an operating model focused on Checkout Solutions & PayPal, Consumer Financial Services & Venmo, and Payment Services & Crypto. Checkout Solutions & PayPal will bring together the company’s consumer and merchant ecosystems under one strategy. Consumer Financial Services & Venmo will focus on expanding Venmo into a broader consumer financial services platform. The Payment Services & Crypto division will combine PayPal’s processing and platform capabilities, including Braintree, small business processing, value-added services and crypto offerings such as PYUSD. PayPal…

Visa has launched its Agentic Ready programme in Singapore with 13 issuers to help banks and fintech firms prepare for payments initiated by AI agents. The programme allows issuers to test and validate agent-initiated transactions in a controlled, production-grade environment, with consumer controls built into the process. Visa Agentic Ready is supported by Visa’s trust layer, which includes tokenisation, identity, risk management and payment controls. The first phase will focus on issuer readiness before wider use cases are scaled. The Singapore partners include Bank of China Singapore, CIMB Singapore, DBS Bank, DCS, GXS Bank, HSBC Singapore, Maybank Singapore, OCBC, Standard…

What does it take to launch a full digital bank in under a year and have it outperform 70 physical branches? Bank Muamalat’s Atlas did exactly that. Built in just 9 months, it onboarded 61% new-to-bank customers in its first six months and delivers the same customer acquisition power as 70 physical branches from a single app. Vincent Fong sits down with Hazrizal Hasan, Head of Digital Banking at Bank Muamalat Malaysia, and Chirag Amla, Principal Solutions Architect for APAC at Mambu, to unpack how they pulled it off and what comes next for Islamic banking. In this episode: How…

Ant International now connects more than 150 million merchants globally with over 2 billion user accounts, as it expands its payment and financial technology network across more markets. Its global payment services now support more than 300 payment methods across over 220 markets. These include major card schemes, 50 mobile payment partners and more than 10 national QR systems, such as Singapore’s SGQR, Malaysia’s DuitNow, Thailand’s PromptPay and Indonesia’s QRIS. The company said its payment network processes more than 20 million transactions a day on average. Peng Yang, CEO of Ant International, said, “New models of financial interoperability and AI…

Singapore’s banking sector is moving to sharpen its cyber defences as advanced AI models raise fresh concerns over how quickly software vulnerabilities could be found and exploited, Reuters reported. Ong-Ang Ai Boon, Director of the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS), shared in a written response that the industry body is helping banks compare threat signals and shape sector-wide safeguards. Individual banks have also upgraded their cyber operations to shorten the window between detecting a threat and resolving it. The concerns centre on Anthropic’s Claude Mythos Preview, a general-purpose AI model whose ability to identify vulnerabilities in complex software systems…

Coda has released a new video extending its Guard Your Game anti-scam campaign to gamers across Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore. The video brings back Codee, the campaign mascot, to help players spot common fraud tactics. These include unsolicited reward notifications, phishing links and websites impersonating Codashop, Coda’s digital content marketplace. It is available in English and Bahasa Indonesia across Codashop’s Instagram channels in all four markets. The Coda anti-scam campaign launched in February 2026 with consumer education resources endorsed by Indonesia’s Ministry of Creative Economy (EKRAF), including a localised Anti-Scam Booklet and Coda’s Online Safety URL Checker. The…

The Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) will remove the PayNow nickname feature for retail customers from 6 June 2026 to reduce the risk of impersonation scams. Instead of user-created nicknames, payers will see selected letters of the recipient’s registered account name before completing a transfer. ABS said the change will make it harder for scammers to use names that resemble trusted individuals or established entities to mislead victims into sending money to fraudulent accounts. The feature has been available since PayNow launched in 2017, introduced for users who did not want their full registered account names shown when receiving…

OKX, BlackRock and Standard Chartered have launched a framework that allows eligible institutional clients to use BUIDL as collateral for trading. The framework lets OKX VIP and institutional clients post BUIDL as off-exchange collateral held in custody at Standard Chartered while trading on OKX Middle East without moving assets onto the exchange. BUIDL can also be deposited on-exchange and used as yield-bearing collateral for margin trading, keeping collateral productive while trading. The companies describe it as the first off-exchange tokenised collateral framework backed by a G-SIB custodian. BUIDL, tokenised by Securitize and issued on a public blockchain, invests in cash,…

Money20/20 Asia returned to Bangkok from April 21 to 23, 2026 to explore how the next wave of financial innovation is delivering tangible outcomes across the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. The conference examined the region’s rapid financial innovation, characterized by enhanced cross-border interoperability and strengthened digital infrastructure. It also explored Thailand’s push for open finance, the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in financial services, and the transition of stablecoins from niche crypto assets to foundational payment rails. Marking its third year in the Thai capital, Money20/20 Asia 2026 welcomed over 4,500 attendees, representing a 40% increase from the previous year. More…

Singlife has revamped its digital investment platform dollarDEX, targeting self-directed retail investors with a streamlined interface and a zero-fee model. The upgraded platform provides access to over 1,500 funds across various asset classes and geographies without platform fees or sales charges. The company states the redesign focuses on simplifying account opening, fund discovery, and trading processes. Singlife plans to introduce additional features to the platform progressively. These upcoming additions include an interest-bearing cash account and a consolidated view of users’ insurance and investment portfolios. “We have listened closely to feedback, and have evolved the platform for today’s retail investor,” said…

Western Union is preparing to launch a US dollar-backed stablecoin in May, positioning the token as a faster alternative to the SWIFT network for cross-border agent settlements. The company confirmed the timeline for the Solana-based token, called USDPT, during its first-quarter earnings call on 24 April, as reported by The Block. Western Union CEO Devin McGranahan told analysts that USDPT will initially function as a business-to-business settlement tool rather than a consumer product. By moving agent settlements on-chain, the company aims to process transactions outside of traditional banking hours and public holidays. Bridging crypto wallets and retail cash Alongside the…

Jumio has appointed software and cybersecurity veteran Mark Lorion as its new Chief Executive Officer to lead the identity verification provider’s defence against AI-driven fraud. Incoming Jumio CEO Mark Lorion succeeds Bala Kumar, who has served as interim Chief Executive since early 2026. Kumar will continue his role as President and Chief Product and Technology Officer. Lorion joins from Tempo Software, where he was Chief Executive and oversaw significant revenue growth. His background also includes leadership positions at cybersecurity software firms Digital.ai and Arxan Technologies. He currently serves as a board director for intelligence firm Team Cymru. The leadership change…

Bank of Singapore is expanding its family office and wealth advisory leadership team as demand grows for succession planning, legacy management and wealth transfer solutions among ultra-high-net-worth clients. The private banking subsidiary of OCBC Group has appointed Elvin Ho as Head of Family Office and Structuring Solutions, effective 4 May 2026. He will lead the competency and solutions centre, focusing on wealth structures and philanthropy. Ho joins from JPMorgan Private Bank, where he advised Southeast Asian clients on multi-jurisdictional taxation and succession planning. He previously spent 19 years at UBS in various senior wealth planning roles. In a related move,…

China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has ordered Meta Platforms to unwind its US$2 billion acquisition of Singapore-based AI startup Manus, according to a Bloomberg report, in one of Beijing’s most far-reaching interventions into a completed cross-border tech deal involving a US company. The directive was issued on Monday (27 April), four months after the transaction closed in December 2025, and requires all parties to withdraw from the agreement. The ruling also prohibits foreign investment in Manus, escalating regulatory scrutiny over Chinese-founded AI firms operating abroad. From Beijing to Singapore Manus had redomiciled to Singapore in mid-2025, relocating its…

Tokio Marine Life Insurance Singapore (TMLS) has appointed Raymond Ong as its new Chief Executive Officer, according to finews.asia. Ong joins the firm with leadership experience across the insurance sector. He has a reputation for delivering sustainable growth and strengthening operational discipline while leading customer-focused transformation initiatives. Before joining TMLS, Ong served as the CEO of a composite insurer in Singapore. In that role, he focused on product innovation, digital transformation, and the development of customer-centric solutions. His earlier career includes serving as the Chief Financial Officer at one of the largest life insurers in Malaysia. He also held the…