From Ayurvedic Remedies to Insurance Covers | TWIF Asia

Indian lenders Kissht, InCred, and CreditAccess Grameen posted strong Q1 FY27 results, with PhonePe reporting $830M revenue.

Formal retail credit access expanded to 74% by March 2026, driven by a surge in personal loans and 1.14M new credit cards outstanding in June.

Regulatory clarity advanced with CBDT's crypto reporting guidelines, new insurance licenses, and the government establishing IDPIC for AI-powered fraud intelligence.

AI is a major focus: MAS launched an AI-driven cyber risk taskforce, OCBC deployed agentic AI to halve account opening times, and DBS added gen AI to virtual assistants.

Cross-border payments expanded as HashKey acquired MAS-regulated APEX in Singapore, Wise integrated with PayNet, and HDBank enabled real-time international payments.

Lending players showed strong growth: Atome Financial's revenue grew 80% to $470M, while Australian lender Beforepay secured a $100M credit facility.

BNP Paribas Cardif acquired ~26% stake in IndiaFirst Life Insurance from Warburg Pincus.

Patanjali Ayurved and DS Group acquired Magma General Insurance for ₹4,500cr ($471M) with IRDAI approval.

5paisa Capital acquired Trendlyne for its MarketMind AI suite and proprietary financial datasets.

HashKey, a Hong Kong–listed crypto exchange company, acquired Asia Pacific Exchange (APEX) in Singapore, a deal that would give it a rare, MAS‑regulated exchange + clearing house platform in the city‑state.

Department of Financial Services launched a Protection & Indemnity insurance under Bharat Maritime Insurance Pool with indemnity limit up to $1.5bn.

Axis Finance launched Drishti, a configurable Business Rules Engine (BRE) for automated, data-led credit decisioning across Personal Loans, Business Loans, Loan Against Property and Disha Home Loans.

NTT DATA Payment Services India launched ADAPTIS, unified payment and commerce platform processing 100M+ transactions annually.

Policybazaar launched US dollar-denominated term insurance for Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) through GIFT City's International Financial Services Centre (IFSC), enabling premium payments and claim payouts in USD.

GoKwik partnered with PayU to launch a multi-brand D2C commerce experience on ChatGPT with hundreds of brands.

super.money, Flipkart Group–backed payments startup, launched superGift, a multi‑brand, multi‑category gifting & rewards instrument designed to work across e‑commerce, fashion, travel, food and jewellery in India.

OmniCard, an employee expense management startup, launched a UPI-enabled employee benefits wallet.

Flipkart partnered with PayU Finance to launch Flipkart Pay Later, offering flexible credit repayment options across 30 days, 3 payments, and 3-12 month EMI plans.

Google Pay launched Ask Google Pay, a Gemini-powered conversational AI, and partnered with SBI Card to introduce Google Pay Flex SBI Card on RuPay network.

Futu Securities launched Korean stock trading for Hong Kong investors, providing access to 2,700+ equities across KOSPI and KOSDAQ markets.

Samsung Malaysia and Maybank partnered to introduce Malaysia’s first Samsung Wallet QR payment experience, embedding Maybank’s MAE Scan & Pay directly inside Samsung Wallet so eligible Galaxy users can pay via DuitNow QR without opening the MAE app.

Ripple partnered with Kyobo Life Insurance, one of South Korea’s largest insurers, to pilot tokenised settlement of Korean government bonds using Ripple’s institutional custody platform.

OCBC deployed agentic AI platform HELIOS to reduce private banking account opening times to 15 business days, compared to industry median of six weeks.

Lianlian DigiTech, a Chinese digital payments company, and UnionPay International partnered to develop AI-agent payment applications for cross-border commerce, starting with global procurement automation.

Visa in Asia launched AI agent payment tools, tokenised credentials, and expanded stablecoin settlement with $7bn annualised activity.

Wise integrated into Malaysia’s national payments network, PayNet allowing users to scan and pay via DuitNow QR, Malaysia’s national QR standard, for everyday spending.

Partior and OpenAssets tested tokenised bank deposits for digital asset settlement, demonstrating atomic delivery-versus-payment with stablecoins.

RewardPay, an Australian business payments + loyalty company, launched a customer portal and a set of subscription plans aimed at helping SMEs earn more rewards on routine business spend.

DBS added agentic artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI functions to its virtual assistants, serving 10 million customers across three markets.

MUFG Retirement Solutions in Australia partnered with InvestStream to integrate conversational engagement and financial modelling technology with administration platforms.

HDBank in Vietnam partnered with TerraPay to enable real-time outbound international payments to 156+ countries and territories for retail and SME customers.

Beforepay, an Australian consumer lending startup secured INR 910cr (USD 100M) asset-backed revolving credit facility, increasing funding capacity 82%.

Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) in India issued guidance clarifying crypto exchange compliance with India's new reporting framework under Income-tax Rules, 2026.

Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) granted certificate of registration to ProTec General Insurance, the fourth licence issued in 2026.

Seven Indian fintechs including Paytm, Navi, and CRED jointly opposed National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)'s proposed UPI Meta checkout protocol, arguing it could entrench market concentration.

Government of India established India Digital Payment Intelligence Corporation (IDPIC) in consultation with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to share real-time fraud intelligence using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML).

SEBI proposed a new mutual fund-only Portfolio Management Services (PMS) with ₹25 lakh ($26K) minimum investment, offering RIAs direct fee collection but requiring ₹2cr ($210K) net worth.

Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) granted KPay In-Principle Approval for Major Payments Institution (MPI) licence, enabling broader regulated payment services.

Bank Indonesia, Indonesia's central bank, governor Perry Warjiyo resigned in July 2026 after the President appointed a deputy governor and passed oversight legislation.

PhonePe reported ₹7,920cr ($830M) operating revenue in FY26, with adjusted loss of ₹364cr ($38M).

Kissht reported operating revenue of ₹670cr ($60M) and profit of ₹95cr ($10M) in Q1 FY27, growing 45% and 58% YoY.

InCred Finance posted ₹759 Cr ($79M) revenue in Q1 FY27, growing 31% YoY with profit growing 83% to ₹172 Cr ($18M).

CreditAccess Grameen reported ₹493cr ($52M) net profit in Q1 FY27, growing 8-fold YoY.

India's formal retail credit access expanded from 35% in March 2017 to 74% in March 2026, according to TransUnion CIBIL.

Banking credit to industry grew 19% YoY while personal loans expanded 16% YoY in June, with loans against gold jewellery surging 93% YoY according to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data.

Canara Bank reported ₹4,856cr ($510M) net profit, growing 2% YoY in Q1 FY27, with net interest income rising 13% YoY.

Pine Labs expanded into Southeast Asia with 20-30% online growth, and reported Q1 FY27 revenue of ₹737cr ($77M), up 19.6% YoY.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI)'s June 2026 Financial Stability Report highlighted record household debt at INR 45.5% of GDP, driven by consumption rather than asset creation.

Indian banks added 1.14M net credit cards in June 2026, reaching highest monthly pace since Dec 2023, with total spending at ₹2.01 lakh crore ($21bn).

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) attracted $32bn in foreign capital inflows, with FCNR(B) deposits exceeding 2013 levels in 45 days.

Atome Financial grew 2025 revenue 80% to $470M, with gross merchandise volume rising 60% to $4bn.

Batik Air partnered with Yeepay, a Chinese payment company, to integrate digital payment and ticketing‑distribution capabilities for Chinese travellers booking flights to Malaysia.

Triple-A, a Singapore-based crypto payments company, confirmed a treasury wallet breach resulting in $12M in losses.

GrabPay Singapore increased net profit to $11M in FY2025, driven by transaction revenue growth and tax credits.

Singapore’s Monetary Authority (MAS) and the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) partnered to launched an industry-wide AI-Driven Cyber and Technology Risk Taskforce (ACT) to harden the financial sector against AI‑enabled cyber threats and longer‑term quantum computing risks.

Japanese life insurers including Nippon Life grew FY2025 revenues through higher sales of yen-denominated single-premium whole life insurance policies amid rising interest rates.

Wisr, an Australian consumer lending startup, reported $1.0M first full-year profit in FY26.