Fintech’s AI era is officially getting crowded | TWIF Asia & India

AI made payments strides: Razorpay launched Vulcan, India's first AI model, as Cashfree Payments grew revenue 51% to $101M.

Lending saw mixed trends: Navi raised $100M pre-IPO, but private credit deployments dropped 61% YoY to $3.5bn.

Regulatory shifts: SEBI plans global fund management from India, and IRDAI barred two health insurers from new branch expansion.

AI adoption surged: DBS Singapore's AI agents cut credit tasks by 30%, and Ant International's FalconTST 2.0 for FX forecasting gained traction.

Cross-border payments and digital access expanded: ShopeePay enabled Weixin Pay in China, while GoTyme Bank launched Apple Pay for 10M customers.

DSP Finance acquired Volt Money, digital lending startup providing loans against mutual funds.

Qatar Post, India Post, Universal Postal Union (UPU), and National Payments Corporation of India International Payments Limited (NIPL) partnered to launch PosTransfer, a Unified Payments Interface (UPI) remittance service enabling direct fund transfers to UPI-enabled bank accounts in India up to INR 1 lakh (USD 1,099) per transaction.

Razorpay launched Vulcan, India's first artificial intelligence (AI) foundation model for digital payments, processing 4 billion annual transactions.

CapitalXB, a cross border SME finance startup, partnered with Biz2X, to launch an AI-powered platform to scale trade finance for Biz2Xs customers.

Ant International launched FalconTST 2.0 AI model for foreign exchange forecasting, adopted by Barclays, Citi, Deutsche Bank, and Standard Chartered.

Dubai Islamic Bank launched Jaywan-branded debit cards to localise UAE's domestic payment processing.

TerraPay partnered with Deutsche Bank and TPBank in Vietnam to launch cross-border payment capabilities across 156 countries and 7.5 billion bank accounts.

DBS in Singapore launched specialist agentic AI assistants to about 1,500 relationship and credit‑risk managers globally, enabling them to automate over 70 corporate‑credit tasks (research, memo drafting, data gathering) and cutting assessment time by roughly 30%.

ABHI Microfinance Bank in Pakistan launched DIY Banking ecosystem featuring ATMs, Cash Deposit Machines (CDMs), self-service kiosks, and instant card printing to digitise branch operations.

JCB, Digital Garage, and Lawson in Japan conducted a proof of concept for in-store stablecoin payments using USDC on the Base blockchain in Tokyo.

TikTok developed a direct message payment feature similar to Venmo, leveraging TikTok Pay currently used in Southeast Asia.

ShopeePay partnered with TenPay Global to enable Weixin Pay QR code payments for users from Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Philippines in China.

Navi raised $100M at a valuation of $1.3bn, ahead of its planned Initial Public Offering (IPO).

Rezolv, a debt collections SaaS startup, raised ₹120cr ($12.5M).

XSquare, a Dubai based B2B financial operations startup, raised an undisclosed amount.

Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) released studies indicating key trends in retail participation, trading behaviour and profitability in equity derivatives market.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reported $73bn in forex inflows under its special USD-INR Forex Swap facility.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reported difficulty predicting currency note demand amid double-digit cash circulation growth despite digital payment expansion.

Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) announced plans to establish a framework enabling global fund management from India, while reviewing Securities Lending & Borrowing Mechanism (SLBM) and short selling frameworks.

Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) barred Niva Bupa Health Insurance and Acko from opening new branches for six months after the companies failed to comply with expense of management limits for FY25.

Singapore's Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Ministry of Finance launched tax exemptions for fund managers and hedge fund investment programme.

Cashfree Payments reduced consolidated net loss to ₹118.5cr ($12.3M) in FY26, with revenue growing 51% YoY to ₹967cr ($101M).

India's outward Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) increased 17% YoY to $5.7bn in July 2026, per Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Public sector banks re-offered ₹40K crore ($4.4bn) of bad loans in Q1 FY25, with 80% being repeat sale attempts.

Private credit deployments dropped 61% YoY to ₹34K cr ($3.5bn) in H1 2026 from ₹9bn in H1 2025.

Egypt’s Commercial International Bank (CIB) received preliminary approval from the Central Bank of Egypt to establish YOMO, a new AI‑powered digital bank.

Iress, an Australian financial‑software company, reported an 85% growth in H1FY26 statutory net profit to AU$32M ($23M), driven by cost efficiencies and margin expansion.

Singapore bond issuance reached $21bn) in H1 2026, up 17% YoY, though debt capital markets fees fell 30%.

GoTyme Bank in Philippines launched Apple Pay, partnering with issuer processor Paymentology to let its ~10M customers securely add their GoTyme debit cards to Apple Wallet for contactless, tokenised payments in stores, in‑app and online.

DBS Hong Kong partnered with Visa and tech-education firm Preface to provide customers with practical AI-readiness skills.

MoneyMe, an Australian digital lending company, reported FY26 loan originations of AU$1.2bn ($880M), growing 34% YoY to AU$2bn ($1.5bn) for the first time while gross revenue grew 20% YoY to AU$250M ($179M).

Bank of China (BOCHK) in Hong Kong partnered with Ant International to launch cross-border payments, real‑time treasury management, and SME-focused financial services across Southeast Asia.