Hi fintech friends, I'm Osborne, investor in early stage startups.

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🧐🏆 Posts of the Week

🇮🇳 India

📰 Market Updates

1. National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) explored potential for Universal Payments Interface (UPI) transactions from Internet of Things (IoT) smart devices.
2. Open Credit Enablement Network (OCEN) grew 30% MoM to 6.2K loan disbursements, offering alternative underwriting models and digital collections for smaller businesses beyond traditional credit networks.
3. Microfinance institutions (MFIs) decreased small loans below INR 50,000, shifting towards larger loans above INR 1 lakh with reduced gross loan portfolio in fiscal year 2025-26.
4. Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) reported India's unemployment rate decreased to 5.2% in July, with rural areas driving improvement and labour force participation rising to 41.4%.
5. Indian mutual funds increased foreign equity holdings by INR 3,101cr ($355M) MoM to INR 51,705cr ($6Bn) in July 2025.
6. Association of Mutual Funds of India (AMFI) partnered with India Post to train 100,000 postmen as mutual fund distributors, targeting 20,000 new distributors across four states in FY26.
7. XED, a global executive education platform, filed draft IPO prospectus via GIFT City. This will be the first IPO via GIFT city.
8. Indian companies invested $1.6bn in overseas equity in July 2025, a 22% decline YoY from $2.0bn in the previous year.
9. Asset reconstruction companies (ARCs) issued INR 1,713cr ($200M) in retail security receipts, tripling YoY, while corporate security receipt issuance declined to INR 2,675cr ($309M) in Q1 FY26.
10. Quess Corp reported India's Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) Global Capability Centers (GCC) faced 42% AI talent skill gap, projected market growth from $40bn to $135bn by 2032 with 12-13% CAGR.
11. State Bank of India (SBI) reported Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions reached INR 90,446cr ($10bn) daily average in August 2025, representing 127M daily transactions.
12. Government reported 130M out of 560M i.e. 23%, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) accounts were inoperative as of July 31, 2025, with Uttar Pradesh having the highest number of inactive accounts.
13. Centricity targeted INR 20,000cr ($2.3bn) in Assets Under Management (AUM) after making more team hires.
14. Care Edge Ratings reported banking system's Gross Non-Performing Assets (GNPA) declined 9.5% YoY to INR 4.2 lakh crore ($47.8bn) in Q1 FY26, with bad loans ratio projected at 15-year low of 2.3%-2.4%.
15. Care Edge Ratings reported that Indian banks' gross non-performing assets (NPAs) declined 9.5% YoY to INR 4.2 lakh crore ($48bn) in Q1 FY26, with gross NPA ratio improving from 2.7% to 2.3%.
16. Kissht, a digital lending platform in India, filed its draft IPO prospectus to raise INR 1,000 crore ($115M), targeting capital augmentation and business expansion.

🚀 Product Launches

1. Juspay partnered with Outpayce to integrate payments technology into Amadeus' Xchange Payment Platform, enabling flexible payment methods for global travel businesses.
2. Dream Money, parent of Dream11, launched daily and monthly gold and fixed deposit investment app starting from INR 10 and INR 1,000 respectively.

📝 Regulatory Updates

1. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) mandated continuous clearing and settlement for Cheque Truncation System (CTS), implementing two-phase transition in October 2025 and January 2026.
2. RBI released draft circular revising Counterparty Credit Risk (CCR) computation guidelines for banks, seeking public feedback by September 10, 2025.
3. RBI released a discussion paper to review flexible inflation targeting framework, inviting public comments by September 18, 2025.
4. Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) issued advisory against investment schemes falsely claiming to be offered by Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) to Indian residents.
5. Goods and Services Tax (GST) reforms might temporarily increase India's fiscal deficit by 0.2% in fiscal year 2026-27, with long-term growth expected to offset short-term financial challenges, according to a report.
6. SEBI explored a regulated pre-Initial Public Offering (IPO) trading platform and considered extending equity derivatives contract tenure to improve investor protection.
7. SEBI proposed an Accredited Investors (AIs)-only Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) regulatory regime with reduced compliance requirements.
8. SEBI sought to promote longer-tenure derivatives contracts to reduce retail investor losses and shift focus from speculative weekly options to hedging and long-term investing.
9. Parliamentary Committee on Petitions recommended standardised cancer diagnostic packages, price caps on cancer treatments, and expanded insurance coverage to improve affordability and accessibility in India.

💰 Financing Announcements

1. Weaver Services, an Indian housing finance platform, raised INR 1,484cr ($170M).
2. Neo, an Indian wealth management platform, raised INR 162 crore ($19M).

ACQUISITION:

1. WestBridge Capital invested INR 450cr ($51M) for a 15% stake in Edelweiss Mutual Fund, valuing the entity at INR 3,000 crore ($343M).
2. Empower Finance acquired NIRA, an Indian digital lending platform for an undisclosed amount.

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🌏 Asia

📰 Market Updates

1. Bank Indonesia launched cross-border QRIS digital payment system in Japan through partnership with JPQR Global, enabling transactions at several merchants and marking regional payment ecosystem expansion.
2. Thailand introduced Tourist Digi Pay, a cryptocurrency payment system enabling foreign tourists to convert crypto assets to Thai baht, targeting economic recovery amid declining tourism revenues.
3. EBANX, a Brazilian payments company, secured Monetary Authority of Singapore's MPI licence and recorded 42% YoY transaction volume growth in APAC market.
4. Askari Bank in Pakistan reported 32% YoY profit increase to $198K) in first half of calendar year 2025.
5. PayNet partnered with Ant International to expand DuitNow QR payments to 100M global merchants, enhancing cross-border tourism and digital payment capabilities.
6. DBS Bank issued tokenised structured notes on Ethereum's public blockchain for institutional investors through licensed digital exchanges ADDX, DigiFT, and HydraX.
7. Visa partnered with 2C2P, Adyen, AsiaPay, and Worldpay to expand Click to Pay online checkout service across Asia Pacific, enabling tokenised payment details retrieval.
8. Wise integrated with InstaPay and PESONet, processed 12% of Philippines' inward personal remittances, and partnered with Philippine Statistics Authority for National ID verification.
9. Brunei Darussalam Central Bank (BDCB) and Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) signed cross-border collateral arrangement MoU, preparing to commemorate 60th Currency Interchangeability Agreement anniversary.
10. Bank of Singapore introduced Family Office Catalyst, a wealth management service for ultra-high net worth individuals with minimum $20M assets, offering professional management and tax incentives without establishing a dedicated single-family office.
11. Payoneer partnered with Stripe to enhance online checkout services for Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs), launching expanded payment acceptance in Asia Pacific markets.
12. Sea Ltd secured Sociedade de Crédito Direto (SCD) and Sociedade de Crédito, Financiamento e Investimento (SCFI) licenses in Brazil, expanding its digital financial services in the country.
13. Aspire partnered with Fullerton Fund Management to launch Aspire Yield, enabling Singapore small businesses to invest idle cash with zero minimums and next-day liquidity.
14. GCash partnered with Alipay+ and Mastercard to introduce Tap to Pay, enabling NFC payments at 150M global locations via Android phones.
15. CIMB Singapore launched FlexiPay, a digital revenue-based loan product enabling SMEs to repay based on daily revenue with no interest or penalties.
16. GXS Bank launched Money Lock, a digital banking security feature enabling customers to lock savings and require video verification for fund transfers amid increasing financial fraud.
17. iFAST Pay Malaysia received in-principle approval from Bank Negara Malaysia to operate as Electronic Money Issuer and launch multi-currency e-wallet services targeting cross-border payments.
18. Indonesia's Financial Services Authority (OJK) imposed sanctions blocking digital fraud perpetrators from banking services and employment opportunities, estimating $53M in losses from November 2024 to August 2025.
19. National Cyber Emergency Services Response Team (PKCERT) in Pakistan issued comprehensive data protection standards for organisations handling Personally Identifiable Information (PII), mandating advanced encryption, multi-factor authentication, and strict data retention policies.
20. Bank of Thailand mandated daily online transfer limits of 50,000 baht ($1,545) across three tiers to prevent financial scams targeting vulnerable populations.

💰 Financing Announcements

1. DigiFT, a regulated exchange for tokenised assets, raised $25M.
2. AND Global, a Mongolian fintech company, raised $21.4M.
3. Block Earner, an Australian crypto startup, raised $3.3M.
4. Cashku, Malaysia's digital financial planning platform, raised $2.2M.

ACQUISITION:

1. Coda, a Singapore-based digital payments platform, acquired Amsterdam-headquartered Recharge for undisclosed amount.

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