Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia fintech news: e-wallets, digital banks, lending, IPOs and regulation in the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Singapore.
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JCB to bring tap-to-ride card payments to Hanoi Metro in early 2027
JCB International and Hanoi Metro have signed a memorandum of understanding to let JCB cardholders tap contactless cards at fare gates on Lines 2A and 3.1, with a launch targeted…
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GoTo fintech earnings pass on-demand unit as group posts third straight quarterly profit
GoTo’s financial technology arm earned more than its ride-hailing and delivery business in the third quarter, as the Indonesian group reported a Rp441 billion net profit and raised its full-year…
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PayNet opens Alipay+ QR payments in five markets to Malaysian banking app users
A new PayNet Alipay+ link lets Malaysians pay by QR in mainland China, Hong Kong, South Korea, the Philippines and Laos from their own banking apps, starting with Maybank, CIMB…
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Hong Leong Bank lets Malaysian customers pay at 120 million China merchants from its app
Hong Leong Bank customers can now pay at more than 120 million UnionPay and Weixin Pay QR merchants in China straight from the HLB Connect app, with no transaction fees.
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Bank Indonesia plans to use QRIS data for small-business credit scoring
Bank Indonesia wants financial firms to use QRIS transaction records to assess the creditworthiness of small merchants, as the national QR payment standard reached 71 million users.
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Visa Direct targets Philippine launch within six months, with no date for stablecoin transfers
Visa is aiming to launch a partner-led Visa Direct service in the Philippines within six months, but has set no date for stablecoin transfers as its own survey finds low…
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Jakarta court overturns KPPU ruling against 97 P2P lenders over interest caps
A Central Jakarta commercial court has overturned the KPPU ruling that 97 peer-to-peer lenders ran an interest-rate cartel, finding that the caps followed OJK direction.
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Malaysia and Thailand central banks join MAS-led BLOOM initiative for cross-border digital money
Bank Negara Malaysia and the Bank of Thailand join Singapore’s BLOOM initiative as policymaker members, alongside new industry participants including Visa, Mastercard, Airwallex and Ripple.
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OCBC launches ringgit savings for Singapore customers, a first for a non-Malaysian bank
From October 23, OCBC customers in Singapore can hold up to RM50,000 in Malaysian ringgit and earn interest on it, a first for a bank outside Malaysia.
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Sea plans separate listing for fintech arm Monee
Sea founder Forrest Li told staff the group plans to take its financial services arm Monee public, according to a memo reviewed by Reuters.
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