Duc Dao

Switzerland’s Cicor to acquire Malaysia factory of Singapore’s EDMI in $20M deal, targets $50M annual revenue

Switzerland's Cicor Group (SIX: CICN), a contract electronics manufacturer, will acquire EDMI Electronics Sdn. Bhd. in Johor, Malaysia, which is in turn a manufacturing subsidiary of Singapore-headquartered smart metering company EDMI Limited, for $15 million-$20 million.

US’s Apollo to invests $1.5B in Singapore’s Keppel offshore energy fund

The United States-based alternative asset manager Apollo (NYSE: APO) will invest $1.5 billion through Apollo-managed funds and affiliates into Keppel Ltd.'s Keppel Offshore Fund (KOF), a portfolio of offshore energy assets managed by Singapore's Keppel (SGX: BN4).

HSBC to open global AI center in Singapore in H2/2026, hiring 100 specialists

HSBC is establishing a Global AI Center of Excellence in Singapore in the second half of 2026, hiring more than 100 AI specialists to develop artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities for deployment across its global network.

Cryptocurrency holds steady in global affluent portfolios; Malaysia, Singapore investors seek alternatives: HSBC

Cryptocurrencies account for 6 percent of the mean asset allocation among affluent and high net worth investors globally in 2026, down one percentage point from 2025, according to the HSBC Affluent Investor Snapshot 2026.

Egypt’s Fincart raises $2.8M seed round to expand e-commerce platform across Africa, Middle East

Egypt-based Fincart, a shipping platform, has closed an oversubscribed $2.8 million seed funding round co-led by Launch Africa and Antler MENAP, with participation from Yango Ventures, Five35 Ventures, Bluestream Capital, Hi2 Global, Kalahari Venture Labs, and other MENA and Africa-focused investors.

Hong Kong, Singapore-based KPay receives in-principle approval for Singapore major payment institution licence

KPay Group, a fintech company co-headquartered in Hong Kong and Singapore, has received in-principle approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) for a Major Payment Institution license, under the Payment Services Act 2019 for its Singapore subsidiary, KPay Merchant Service (Singapore).

China’s BYD, Australia’s Smart to jointly integrate novated leasing into EV purchase process

China's electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer BYD and Australia's salary packaging and novated leasing provider Smart will jointly offer BYD and DENZA electric vehicles available through novated leases to more than 2.5 million Australians employed by Smart's clients.

Samsung, Maybank launch Malaysia’s first Samsung Wallet QR payment, usable across 5 countries

Samsung Malaysia Electronics and Malayan Banking Berhad (Maybank) have jointly launched QR payment functionality within Samsung Wallet in Malaysia, allowing eligible Samsung Galaxy users to access Maybank's MAE Scan & Pay feature natively within the wallet application from July 21, 2026.

U.S. Section 301 hits Southeast Asia: 10% for three, 12.5% for Singapore, Vietnam, technology escapes

New U.S. Section 301 tariffs took effect on Friday (July 24) across 60 economies, hitting seven Southeast Asian nations: Malaysia, Cambodia, and Indonesia with a 10 percent additional duty, while Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, and Singapore face the higher rate of 12.5 percent.

Visa, China’s Lianlian complete first live B2B agentic payment transaction using AI agent

US payments company Visa and China's Lianlian DigiTech have completed their first live business-to-business agentic transaction using LoopXPay, Lianlian's AI agent, in which the agent sourced a product sample from a supplier and completed the purchase within a single automated workflow.