Asia

As many as 86 percent of financial institution leaders across Asia Pacific believe AI has increased the sophistication of fraud and scams, while 79 percent say their institutions have already encountered attacks utilizing agentic AI, according to a survey conducted by network and computer security firm BioCatch.

Singapore has been ranked the world's most crypto-friendly city in Multipolitan's Crypto Friendly Cities Index 2026, with six Asia Pacific cities making the global top 10, underscoring the region's growing dominance in attracting digital asset capital, founders, and infrastructure.

Japan's NTT DATA and Google Cloud will collaborate help enterprises move from AI experimentation to large-scale deployment of agentic AI solutions, combining Google Cloud's AI platform capabilities with NTT DATA's global delivery scale and industry expertise.

While AI has become a near-universal corporate priority, only 29 percentage of enterprises are confident that their infrastructure can meet evolving business demands, according to a new global study from Tata Communications and Bloomberg Media Studios.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is investing up to $10 million in Highland Central Asia Fund II to increase small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) funding in Uzbekistan and the Kyrgyz Republic.

AXS Pte Ltd, a Singapore-based payment solutions provider and NTT DATA Japan, a Japan-based artificial intelligence (AI), digital business and technology services firm, have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to explore the development of secure and seamless cross‑border bill payment services.

Google and Telstra have announced a partnership to enhance the reach, reliability, and security of Australia's digital infrastructure through the integration of terrestrial fiber and subsea networks, as both companies move to support the growing demands of AI applications and workloads.

Google, AirTrunk, and European Energy Australia will soon connect the 25-megawatt Mulwala Solar Farm in the Riverina district of New South Wales, Australia to the National Electricity Market of the country.

Kyrgyzstan's Interbank Processing Center has partnered with Alipay+, the wallet gateway under Singapore-headquartered Ant International, to launch international QR payment services for users of the ELCARD Mobile app, with the support of the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic.

Singapore, data center operators are anchored by domestic, regional, and US players with demand underpinned by both western hyperscalers and regional fintech and enterprises, Credit Sights said Tuesday.