Author: Fintech News Singapore

Tazapay has raised a Series B extension led by Circle Ventures, taking its total funding for the round to US$36 million. New investors in the extension include CMT Digital and Coinbase Ventures. Circle Ventures, Peak XV Partners, GMO Venture Partners, and January Capital also participated in the extension. Existing backers of Tazapay include Ripple, Norinchukin Capital, ARC180, and RTP Global. The fresh funding will support licensing expansion, commercial growth across Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and the Americas, as well as the development of infrastructure for AI-driven payment use cases. Kanupriya Sharda, Chief Business Officer at Tazapay, said, “The…

Visa will join the Canton Network as a Super Validator, becoming the first payments firm to take on the role. The company said it will be one of 40 Super Validators on the blockchain network, which is built for regulated finance and designed to keep sensitive data private. Visa said it will help support operations on Canton Network as banks and financial institutions explore onchain payment flows, including stablecoin payments, settlement and treasury use cases. The move addresses a key hurdle for financial institutions using blockchain. While transparency is one of blockchain’s core features, it can also raise privacy concerns…

Trip.com is working with Checkout.com to improve payments for travelers booking across its global platform. The partnership will see Trip.com roll out digital card payment services through Checkout.com in markets including the UK, Japan and Saudi Arabia, with further expansion planned in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Trip.com offers hotel bookings, flights, trains, car rentals and attractions, and operates in 24 languages across 39 countries and regions. The two companies are also exploring additional local payment methods beyond online card payments, including e-wallets and bank transfers, to support customers in different markets. Trip.com has adopted Checkout.com’s standalone 3D…

Airwallex has appointed former New Zealand Prime Minister and Finance Minister Sir Bill English as Chair of its New Zealand board. Sir Bill joins as an independent director, bringing extensive experience in public finance, economic policy and international trade. His appointment comes as global payments and financial services grow in importance for New Zealand’s export-led economy, and as more businesses adopt digital platforms to operate internationally. Airwallex provides financial infrastructure to a range of high-growth New Zealand companies, including Halter, Partly and Tracksuit. It also supports international businesses operating in New Zealand, such as Afterpay and Bolt. Since entering New…

DV8 Public Company plans to fully acquire Rakkar Digital and inject up to THB100 million (about US$3.05 million) into the Thai digital asset custody provider. The listed company has signed a share sale and purchase agreement to buy Rakkar’s ordinary shares from its existing shareholders, according to a filing with the Stock Exchange of Thailand. The deal remains subject to regulatory approvals and other conditions under the agreement. Rakkar is a digital asset custodial wallet service provider authorised by Thailand’s Minister of Finance under the supervision of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm was founded by Arthit Sriumporn, who…

iPiD has struck two deals in Korea, bringing its payee verification tools to DOZN’s clients and Hana Bank’s cross-border payment operations. DOZN, a Korean digital commerce and payments platform, will resell iPiD Validate to financial institutions, payment service providers and corporates in Korea. The real-time payee verification service allows users to check account details before a payment is made through features such as name matching, account confirmation and pre-payment validation. The partnership comes as Korean payment providers and businesses handle more cross-border transactions and face pressure to reduce fraud, prevent misdirected payments and improve efficiency. “Korea is one of the…

DBS and Bank of China (BOC) have announced plans to strengthen their long-standing partnership, focusing on financial innovation to support trade and investment across the region. Key areas of cooperation include fintech development, regional connectivity, cross-border RMB solutions, third-party market expansion, and sustainable finance. The banks will leverage their respective strengths to deepen strategic cooperation in China and regional overseas markets, including Singapore, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Initiatives aim to facilitate cross-border trade, support Chinese companies expanding abroad, and enable global enterprises and long-term investors to access the Chinese market. Tan Su Shan, CEO of DBS Group, said: “Economic and trade…

Triple-A has joined Circle Payments Network to support stablecoin-based cross-border settlements in local currencies. Operated by Circle Technology Services, the network connects banks, payment service providers, virtual asset providers and enterprises to enable near real-time payments using stablecoins. With the integration, Triple-A joins the network as a Beneficiary Financial Institution. The company said this will support use cases such as remittances, payroll, supplier payments and global treasury management. Eric Barbier, CEO of Triple-A, said, “Through Circle Payments Network, we enable last-mile settlement in USDC on the backend and deliver in local currency through domestic payment systems. This allows businesses to…

FOMO Pay is launching a new soundbox in Singapore that allows merchants to accept cards, PayNow, QR payments, e-wallets and stablecoins through one terminal. The FOMO AI Soundbox also provides real-time audio confirmation for each transaction and is designed to reduce the need for merchants to manage separate devices or integrations for different payment options. The Singapore-headquartered payment firm said the launch is part of a broader push to support both traditional payment rails and emerging on-chain payment methods in everyday commerce. FOMO Pay is also developing an AI-powered merchant intelligence layer linked to its merchant portal, which is intended…

Singlife has appointed Leo Mun Wai as an Independent Non-Executive Director to the boards of Singapore Life Holdings and Singapore Life. He will also serve on the company’s Risk and Audit Committees. Mun Wai has more than 30 years of experience in the financial sector, including over two decades in senior regulatory roles and about a decade in board positions. Before moving into board roles, he held senior positions at the Monetary Authority of Singapore and retired as Assistant Managing Director, where he was responsible for the regulation and supervision of Singapore’s capital markets. He also served as Executive Director…

India and Bhutan are set to introduce a cross-border remittance service through their postal networks under the planned UPU-UPI initiative. UPI, or Unified Payments Interface, is India’s real-time payments system that allows money to be sent and received instantly. The service will link the Universal Postal Union’s PosTransfer system with UPI to support remittances between the two countries. The initiative was one of the key highlights of a visit by India’s Secretary of Posts to Bhutan during which both sides also signed a memorandum of understanding on postal cooperation. The agreement sets out a broader framework for collaboration between India…

Ripple has joined the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s BLOOM initiative and teamed up with Unloq to pilot a programmable trade settlement use case. The initiative, led by MAS, is aimed at extending settlement capabilities using tokenised bank liabilities and regulated stablecoins. The pilot is intended to showcase a model for Singapore’s future development of interoperable settlement infrastructure for cross-border trade. The project will use Unloq’s SC+ trade finance infrastructure, which combines trade obligations, settlement conditions and financing workflows in a single execution layer. It will also use Ripple’s infrastructure, the XRP Ledger and Ripple USD, or RLUSD. The pilot will…

Grab will buy back up to US$400 million of its shares over the next four months under its existing repurchase plan. The repurchases will be carried out through two agreements. They include a US$250 million accelerated share repurchase deal with JPMorgan Chase Bank and a contingent forward purchase agreement with Morgan Stanley worth up to US$150 million. Both transactions fall under the US$500 million share repurchase programme approved by Grab’s board in February 2026. Once completed, Grab will have used US$400 million of that amount, leaving US$100 million for further buybacks. “We view the current share price dislocation as a…

Revolut Singapore remained net profitable for a second straight year in 2025 as customers used the app more for everyday spending and transfers. The update came as parent Revolut reported record 2025 group revenue of US$6.0 billion, up 46 percent year on year, and profit before tax of US$2.3 billion, up 57 percent. In Singapore, subscription revenue rose 75 percent, card payment revenue increased by close to 20 percent and foreign exchange fee and spread revenue grew 6 percent. Average monthly transactions rose by nearly 20 percent, while retail e-wallet balances increased by more than 25 percent and business account…

MariBank has launched a new investment product that gives customers access to Singapore equities from S$1, with no transaction fees. The product, called Mari Invest Singapore Equity, distributes the Amova Singapore Dividend Equity Fund SGD Class and is being rolled out first on an invite-only basis. It will be made available to the public through the MariBank app in early April 2026. “This reflects our commitment to lowering barriers and helping customers grow their wealth confidently. Having invested through various economic and liquidity cycles over more than 25 years, Amova Asset Management has consistently demonstrated high discipline and delivered strong…

Former OCBC CEO Helen Wong’s 2025 pay fell 6.3 percent to S$12 million as the bank’s earnings eased from the year before, according to The Business Times. Wong retired as Group CEO at the end of 2025 with Tan Teck Long taking over as Group CEO from 1 January 2026. Her pay came in below the S$12.8 million she received in FY2024 as OCBC’s net profit fell to S$7.42 billion from S$7.59 billion a year earlier. Her remuneration package included a S$1.2 million base salary, S$6.3 million in cash bonus, about S$4.2 million in deferred shares, and S$323,000 in other…

Singapore police have arrested two more Malaysians over their suspected roles in a government official impersonation scam, bringing the total for similar cases this month to eight. The two men, aged 30 and 20, will be charged on 22 March and 23 March, respectively. Police said the case surfaced on 20 March after a 62-year-old woman reported receiving calls from people claiming to be from M1 and the Monetary Authority of Singapore over an overdue S$350 bill that could not be deducted from her bank account. The conversation later moved to WhatsApp, where she was told purchases had been made…

HSBC has appointed David Rice as its first Chief AI Officer amid a wider review that could lead to major job cuts in the coming years. The appointment takes effect on 1 April. Rice was previously Chief Operating Officer for HSBC’s Corporate and Institutional Banking business. The new role gives AI a dedicated leadership position at the bank as HSBC expands its use of the technology across the group. The bank plans to make generative AI tools available to all staff to simplify processes, procedures and policies, while equipping customer-facing employees with tools to deliver more personalised services. David Rice,…

Alibaba and Tencent lost US$66 billion in market value as investors questioned how their AI spending could generate returns, according to Bloomberg. The sell-off came after recent earnings and strategy updates failed to give markets a clear near-term path for monetising AI. Tencent lost about US$43 billion in value, while Alibaba’s US-listed shares shed roughly US$23 billion overnight. The reversal followed a rally in Chinese AI-linked stocks, driven by excitement over agentic AI products and recent launches across the sector. That optimism faded as investors shifted focus to whether rising spending on infrastructure, talent and model development would translate into…

UOB deputy chairman and CEO Wee Ee Cheong received S$12 million in total remuneration for 2025, The Straits Times reported citing the bank’s annual report. The package was down from S$15 million in 2024 and S$15.9 million in 2023, mainly due to a lower bonus. His base salary was unchanged at S$1.44 million, while his bonus fell to S$10.6 million from S$13.6 million a year earlier. Benefits, including transport- and event-related expenses, totalled S$42,629, down from S$46,944 in 2024. UOB said 60 percent of Wee’s variable pay will be deferred over the next three years, with 40 percent of that…