Stable Growth: Stablecoins Find Their Footing Across Asia

India's lending sector shows robust growth: Indifi turned profitable (₹371cr revenue), NeoGrowth raised ₹85cr, NBFC credit surged 16% YoY, and RBI hiked CRR to drain ₹4 lakh crore.

Wealthtech and market infrastructure advance: Zomint raised ₹36cr, Groww added 100K clients, RBI enabled Account Aggregator inter-operability, and SEBI explores dual MFD/RIA licenses.

Digital payments and assets innovate rapidly: Pakistan's QR merchants grew 245%, Standard Chartered expanded digital asset custody, and Global Payments offers 153-currency cross-border solutions.

Regulatory evolution and strategic growth: MAS mandated AI risk rules, Vietnam updated its fintech sandbox, and Revolut committed $270M to its Singapore HQ.

Hyperface launched Smart Engage for 3 million Yes Bank credit card holders, enabling real-time benefit tracking.

Ageas Federal Life Insurance launched Aurum Advantage Plan, a multi-currency ULIP at India's GIFT City, with minimum investment of $3,000.

Pine Labs launched a unified payments platform in Singapore combining payment acceptance, acquiring, instalment payments and customer engagement.

Scapia partnered with Tourism Malaysia to launch Malaysia Calling, a four-month promotional campaign targeting Indian tourists, with flight bookings increasing fourfold and hotel bookings doubling.

Global Payments partnered with Centara Hotels & Resorts to launch cross-border payments supporting 153 currencies across 93 properties, deploying in Q4 2026.

BDO Unibank partnered with Finastra to upgrade its payments infrastructure using Global PAYplus, enhancing transaction volume capacity and supporting ISO 20022 standards.

Mox partnered with QBE to launch Home Cushion Insurance, offering combined building, contents, and liability coverage for renters, landlords, and owner-occupiers in Hong Kong.

Sumsub partnered with MiniPay by Opera to launch Reusable Know Your Customer (KYC) Gateway, enabling users to verify identity once and reuse across regulated partners, improving conversion from 70% to 95%.

RedotPay partnered with Nium to expand stablecoin offramp and conversion services across 190 countries, serving 9M users.

Standard Chartered expanded its digital assets custody service to Singapore, offering custody for select crypto and tokenised real assets.

AUDC, an Australian stablecoin issuing startup, backed 12 projects through AUDDapt offering $250K milestone-based funding to integrate AUDD stablecoin into production environments across multiple sectors.

Ping An Digital Bank partnered with J.P. Morgan Asset Management and Aberdeen Investments to launch private funds, becoming Hong Kong's first digital bank to enter high-end wealth management.

SBI Holdings partnered with Mesh and Money Forward to launch a digital asset joint venture, facilitating crypto purchases, transfers, and payments.

United Overseas Bank (UOB) partnered with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to launch hybrid cloud infrastructure for AI-driven banking innovation across five ASEAN markets.

OCBC partnered with Ant International to launch a tokenised deposit solution enabling 24/7 treasury management and liquidity movement between Singapore and Malaysia.

Rezolv, an Indian debt recovery startup, raised ₹120cr ($12.5M).

NeoGrowth, an Indian MSME-focused digital lending startup, raised ₹85cr ($8.8M).

Zomint, an Indian wealthtech startup, raised ₹36cr ($3.7M).

MoneyTruVa, India's structured financial information startup, raised undisclosed funding.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) introduced inter-operability among Account Aggregators for seamless financial data sharing.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) raised minimum daily Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) maintenance to 99% from 90% effective October 16, 2026, draining ₹4 lakh crore ($41bn) surplus liquidity.

India and the UK agreed to explore cross-border equity and bond listings via GIFT IFSC following their fourth Financial Markets Dialogue.

Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) weighed allowing individual Mutual Fund Distributors (MFDs) to hold Registered Investment Adviser (RIA) licenses, addressing overlap between distribution and advisory roles across India's 100,000+ MFDs and 1,048 RIAs.

Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) planned to implement commission caps and expense limits starting January 2027, triggering sharp selloffs in PB Fintech and Turtlemint.

Vietnam's State Bank amended fintech sandbox rules, converting dual qualification requirements to either/or standard for executive leadership.

Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) mandated new artificial intelligence (AI) risk rules for financial firms, requiring compliance within one year, covering governance, third-party AI, and risk controls.

Regulators in China imposed 20% personal income tax on offshore trusts and cracking down on cross-border brokerages, threatening Hong Kong's position as world's largest wealth hub with $2.95tn in AuM.

Bank of Thailand launched measures to revive SME lending including a digital loan portal, alternative credit assessment, and a five-year guarantee scheme targeting $100M in annual lending by early 2027.

Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in Pakistan discovered $433M in gambling transactions routed through payment gateways JazzCash and Easypaisa, forcing JazzCash to shut 100+ merchant accounts.

Indifi Technologies, an Indian MSME-focused digital lending startup, reported ₹371cr ($38M) revenue and turned profitable in FY26.

Groww, an Indian stock trading company, added 100K active clients in September 2026 with 29.16% market share, while Sahi reported 11% MoM active user growth.

Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs) accounted for 47% of new-to-credit loans below INR 2 lakh ($2K) as of June 2026, with retail delinquency at 1.1%.

Indian banks reported 11% YoY earnings growth in Q2FY27; FCNR deposits worth $127bn temporarily compressed net interest margins by 10-20 basis points.

Indian NBFCs' credit grew 16% YoY to ₹60.6 lakh crore ($630M) in August 2026, driven by gold loans, growing 69% and consumer durable loans jumping 56%.

DK Bank of Bhutan received in-principle approval from ADGM’s regulator to establish a regulated banking subsidiary in Abu Dhabi.

State Bank of Pakistan reported QR-enabled merchants grew 245% to 3.8M in FY26, processing 297M transactions.

Goldman Sachs Securities and UBS Securities expanded their Debt Capital Market (DCM) operations in Japan, hiring senior bankers to capitalize on fundraising boom driven by mergers, acquisitions, and artificial intelligence capital.

Vietnam received its first investment-grade sovereign credit rating of BBB- from Japan's Rating and Investment Information (R&I), with a stable outlook, citing strong growth, low public debt, and resilience to external shocks.

Revolut committed $270M to Singapore over five years, opening new headquarters in the region.