Cards & Payments
Digital payment balances in Taiwan jump to $542m in January boom
Digital payment balances in Taiwan jump to $542m in January boom
Account users also increased to 38.69 million.
Taiwan credit card spending drops $1b as holiday boom ends
January 2026 retail sales reached $13.44b, down from December’s $14.3b peak, FSC data shows.
Neema unlocks direct payment route to 1 billion Alipay wallets
Global banks can bypass China FX hurdles via Neema’s direct-to-Alipay wallet integration.
APAC cross-border B2C payments hit $400b as revenue lags
This represents 18% of worldwide consumer payout flows.
Mastercard and Bank of Shanghai team up for China cross-border payments
It is expected to benefit SMEs and international students.
Mastercard rolls out 400-restaurant gourmet program for elite cardholders
With a minimum spend, cardholders can avail credit or complimentary glasses of wine.
UnionPay rolls out products on the Way4 platform
UPI eyes more integrations in the near future.
How Chinese super apps capture 90% of $12.8t mobile payments
QR code transactions now lead point of sale activity across major cities.
Juspay and RateGain launch unified payment engine for travel sector
Juspay handles over $1t in annual payment value.
BofA’s Winnie Chen charts real-time payment path
Companies want simplicity and certainty as they move funds across borders.
SWIFT rolls out new framework for retail payments
A group of 25 banks will go live with it by the end of June.
JCB to explore commercialisation of UWB payments
Smartphones with UWB functions are widely available in Japan, JCB said.
Stablecoin payment volumes double to $390b as Asia claims 60% share
Majority of activity is in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan, according to McKinsey and Artemis Analytics.
The Bank of the Philippine Islands unveil new debit card
The new design has a curved notch at the bottom left corner.
India bank credit hits $2.4t amidst fintech boom
Formal banking reach expanded to 569.3 million Jan Dhan accounts by early November 2025.
ISO 20022 and agentic AI to drive payment unification in 2026
But financial institutions (FIs) and tech providers must integrate new real-time systems with legacy rails.
4 in 10 APAC firms prefer instant payments for cross border transfers
72% of instant payment use is currently tied to standard customer purchases.
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Commentary
From automation to agency: Asia’s wealth leaders can reinvent, not just streamline
Singapore aced its FATF evaluation — now comes the hard part
Are Asia’s digital banks prepared for the stablecoin era?
Why APAC is building home-currency stablecoins
Why Southeast Asian wealth managers must design the business before buying the technology
Why trust in Asian banking increasingly gets built off the record
Hong Kong cleared stablecoins for take-off. Getting them to work across Asia is the hard part
The financing challenge behind Asia’s wealth transfer