Fintech in the hot seat this week (TWIF - China 6/18)

US Republican Senator Tom Cotton urged the Treasury Department to investigate payments company Airwallex, claiming the company had deep ties to the Chinese government and posed a risk to American data security.

Stablecoin payment company RedotPay completed its Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) registration and secured regulatory approvals to issue credit cards in Mexico.

Binance faces dual regulatory setbacks in Europe and Asia. The exchange is preparing to exit the European Union and halt services after failing to secure a mandatory license in Greece ahead of upcoming deadlines. Concurrently, its attempt to re-enter the Philippines through BlockShoals Technologies has stalled because neither entity holds the country's required virtual asset service provider license.

HKEX and HKMA launched a joint pilot project using the e-HKD to enable flexible, around-the-clock advance margin payments for after-hours trading in the derivatives market.

The central banks of China and Indonesia launched a bilateral, cross-border QR code payment system that allowed travelers to use their native digital wallets for direct retail transactions between the two countries.

CIMB and China CITIC Bank signed a Letter of Intent to enhance financial connectivity, cross-border financing, and trade transactions between China and the ASEAN region.

Ant International partnered with Mexican fintech company Clip to launch the Mi Clip electronic wallet. 

Tencent Cloud signed a cooperation agreement with China CITIC Bank International to support the bank's FinTech 2.0 strategy in Hong Kong and Macao.