FinTech

Most bankers expect artificial intelligence (AI) agents to become part of the workforce within the next five years, according to the “AI in Banking Benchmark” report released by NASDAQ-listed nCino, a platform for agentic AI banking.

Finan, the Singapore-headquartered company known for small-business management platform SoBanHang serving Vietnamese firms, has raised an investment in a pre-Series A funding round with participation from OSK-SBI Venture Partners.

TNG Digital Sdn. Bhd, the operator of Malaysia’s digital financial services and lifestyle app TNG eWallet, has on Tuesday announced the launch of its first fully digital, in-app business financing platform that connects micro and small businesses to financial institutions, with CIMB Bank Berhad (CIMB) as its first financing partner on the platform.

With the inclusion principle integrated into main innovation projects, Ant International now links 2 billion user accounts with 150 million merchants through multi-layered partnerships, provides global account services to 1.6 million SMEs, and helps over 30 million underserved businesses and individuals access quality credit.

Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and Bank Indonesia (BI) have signed a new memorandum of understanding (MoU) that strengthens bilateral cooperation between the two central banks.

Tencent Cloud, a cloud unit of Chinese giant Tencent, has partnered with Ryt Bank, an AI-powered bank in Malaysia, to support conversational banking services for everyday payments.

Indonesia’s buy now pay later (BNPL) firm Kredivo has acquired nearly 100 percent of Timo Digital Bank, a Vietnamese digital banking platform developed in cooperation with Vietnamese major lender BVBank.

Under the guidance of Bank Indonesia and the People’s Bank of China, Indonesia and China have launched a cross-border QR payment linkage connecting Indonesia’s QRIS payment system with Chinese payment platforms through Alipay+ and UnionPay International.

Expansion doesn't break companies. Invisible infrastructure gaps do. Singapore scaleups have always punched above their weight. The ones that continue to do so aren’t just moving fast; they’re building the financial infrastructure to support the speed. 

Global spending on digital identity verification will increase by 55 percent between 2026 and 2030, rising from just under $19 billion in 2026, according to a new study by the United Kingdom-based Juniper Research.