Asia

To help increase access to finance for smaller businesses in Nepal, including women-owned firms, and foster climate-friendly projects, International Finance Corporation (IFC) is investing $56 million in Global IME Bank Limited (GIBL), the largest commercial bank in the country.

“There are market rumours that the negotiations for the potential sale have collapsed,” Deliver Hero said in a statement, according to the report. “We confirm that the negotiations for the potential sale are ongoing.”

Asia United Bank (AUB), a publicly listed banks in the Philippines, has partnered with Alipay+, a China-based cross-border mobile payments and marketing platform by Ant International, to enable scan-to-pay feature for cross-border payments in South Korea, Malaysia, Hong Kong.

Google India Digital Services (P) Limited and NPCI International Payments Ltd (NIPL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to expand the transformative impact of unified payments interface (UPI) to countries beyond India.

Gogoro Inc., a Taiwan-based battery-swapping ecosystems firm has on Wednesday announced it was partnering with Latin American energy company Copec, to launch its battery swapping and Smartscooters in Chile and Colombia in the second quarter of 2024.

Animoca Brands Japan, a strategic subsidiary of Hong Kong gaming firm Animoca Brands Corporation Limited, announced Thursday the appointment of Kensuke Amo as its Chief Operating Officer, effective on February 1, 2024.

Animoca Brands, the Hong Kong-based company advancing digital property rights for gaming and the open metaverse, has on Tuesday announced a strategic partnership with LightLink, an Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain, to enhance Web3 gaming experiences with gasless on-chain transactions.

SoftBank Ventures Asia is officially changing its company name to SBVA after closing $150 million fund. SBVA, through this fund, aims to actively discover early to mid-stage startups that capitalize on technological innovations in ICT, such as artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and computing, and create new business opportunities.

Companies across Asia-Pacific (APAC) are quickly ramping up investments in generative AI (GenAI) and entering a higher stage of maturity, according to Infosys. The research forecasts a bigger increase than in any other region – 140 percent in the next year. This translates to an estimated $3.4 billion to be invested across Australia, New Zealand, China,…