🇮🇳 Kissht IPOd at a 12% premium; 🇭🇰Kraken acquired Reap in Hong Kong | TWIF Asia - 09th May 2026.

Razorpay scaled back offline expansion plans, focusing on omnichannel merchants instead of aggressive field team growth, as PoS business grew slowly.

Indian fintech sector raised ₹4,844cr (USD 513M) in Q1 2026, stable YoY, but funding rounds collapsed 54%.

Meesho invested INR 100 crore (USD 11M) investment in its payments subsidiary MPPL to launch payment services and broader financial products.

CSB Bank reported 6% YoY net profit growth to ₹202cr ($21.4M) in Q4 FY26, driven by lower provisions and improved margins.

Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) recorded 15.9% credit growth in FY26, reaching ₹215 lakh crore ($2.3tn), driven by government capital expenditure and structural reforms.

Paytm posted first full-year profit of ₹552cr ($58.5M) in FY26, with total income growing 22% YoY to ₹9,291cr ($1bn).

Satin Creditcare Network, a microfinance lender, plans to raise ₹188cr ($20M) in dollar-denominated bonds.

Axis Bank raised $500M in a three-year offshore loan from Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG).

PB Fintech reported operating revenue of ₹2,061cr ($218M) in Q4 FY26, growing 37% YoY, with profit rising 54% YoY.

Paytm reported ₹2,264cr ($240M) revenue and ₹183cr ($19.4M) profit in Q4 FY26, achieving full-year profitability.

Kissht, India's digital lending platform, listed on Indian stock exchanges at a market cap of ₹3,532cr ($374M), 12% above IPO price, raising ₹926cr ($98M).

IIFL Finance, India's non-bank lender, planned to raise ₹3,700cr ($400M) in External Commercial Borrowings (ECBs) led by Standard Chartered, JPMorgan, and HSBC.

InCred filed updated draft red herring prospectus (UDRHP) for Initial Public Offering (IPO) to raise ₹1,250cr ($132M), with revenue growing 39% YoY to ₹1,849cr ($196M) in 9M FY26.

PhonePe launched an AI-powered integration layer for merchants, reducing payment gateway integration timelines from weeks to minutes.

Flipkart, Axis Bank, and PayU partnered to launch biometric authentication for card payments to combat fraud, replacing SMS-based One-Time Passwords (OTPs).

Axis Bank inaugurated its first digital locker-focused branch in New Delhi, addressing a projected shortage of 54M lockers by 2030.

National Stock Exchange (NSE) launched Electronic Gold Receipts (EGRs), dematerialised securities backed by physical gold in SEBI vaults, to formalise India's gold market.

Dream Sports, Dream11's parent company, launched DreamStreet, an AI-powered stockbroking platform targeting first-time retail investors in India.

Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) cautioned regulated entities against cybersecurity risks from advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools like Anthropic's Mythos, establishing cyber-suraksha.ai task force.

Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) proposed allowing online bond platforms to offer foreign debt securities regulated by International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) in Gujarat International Financial Services Centre (GIFT) City to domestic investors.

Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) introduced framework classifying benchmarks as 'significant indices' if mutual fund schemes exceed ₹20,000cr ($2.2bn) daily average cumulative assets under management.

India's finance ministry notified rules allowing 100% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in insurance companies through automatic route, except Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) capped at 20%.

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) mandated new Merchant Category Code (MCC) 7016 for UPI gift card purchases, capping per-transaction limits at ₹10,000 ($106) effective May 31, 2026.

Fairfax India raised stake in IIFL Capital to 51% through ₹2,000cr ($212M) investment.

Freo, a neobanking startup, acquired IndiaLends, a credit distribution startup.

Toss, a South Korean stocking broking and fintech startup, used by ~66% of South Korea's 51M people, says its FacePay service, available in ~330K retail stores, is used 4.8M users since its launch in September, 2025.

Krungthai Bank (KTB) maintained confidence in credit costs while preparing a joint venture (JV) for nonperforming loans (NPLs) by end of 2026.

Asia Pacific financial institutions led digital asset infrastructure spending, with 62% committed budgets versus North America's 27%, prioritising custody over settlement.

PocketSmith, an Australian personal financial management startup, launched an Open Banking Hub to make secure data sharing easier for consumers to understand.

Indonesian banking system faced tight liquidity through 2026 with elevated funding costs due to energy prices and rupiah pressure, CreditSights reported.

Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) reported Hong Kong Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) credit conditions remained stable in Q1 2026, with 73% perceiving easier approval stances.

MoneyHero, a Hong Kong-based personal finance company, reported $5M net profit in Q4 2025, with 27% YoY revenue growth to $20M.

Bank Negara Malaysia reported DuitNow QR transactions more than doubled to 3bn in 2025, reflecting Malaysia's shift toward a cash-light digital payments economy.

MariBank, a virtual bank in Singapore, expanded consolidated assets to SGD 4.23bn ($3.34bn) in FY2025, with loans surging over eightfold YoY.

Grab disbursed $1.1bn in loans in Q1 2026, growing 67% YoY with gross loan portfolio.

Advance Intelligence Group injected $149M into its subsidiary Atome Financial.

Ringkas, a digital mortgage startup in Indonesia, launched PILLAR, an AI mortgage infrastructure platform for financial institutions across Southeast Asia and the Gulf.

RedotPay in Hong Kong integrated with Tempo blockchain to enable automated AI agents to execute stablecoin transactions for 7M users.

Mox Bank, a Hong Kong based virtual bank, achieved breakeven in Q1 2026 and launched Mox+, a digital wealth solution offering preferential fees, enhanced deposit rates of 3.5% per annum, and early access to new products.

Central banks of Indonesia and China launched cross-border Quick Response Code (QR) payments link connecting QRIS with Alipay and UnionPay, enabling 40M Indonesian merchants and 80M Chinese merchants to accept foreign payments.

IDEMIA, a french biometrics and identity platform, partnered with Payments Network Malaysia to enhance digital payments through MyDebit network, with 11 banks enabling mobile payment capabilities.

Western Union partnered with Fireblocks to support USDPT stablecoin rollout, starting in Philippines and Bolivia.

KAST, a Singaporean stablecoin payments startup, launched up to 3% USD stablecoin cashback on card spending across membership tiers.

Visa and Bank of China (Hong Kong) (BOCHK) completed AI agent payments testing, enabling automated, consent-driven purchases through Visa's network.

Singapore's Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) advanced Securities and Futures (Amendment) Bill establishing SGX-Nasdaq dual listing framework to streamline cross-border Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) and capital access.

Pakistan launched a regulatory framework for 40M digital asset users and blockchain-based remittance systems to secure $38bn in annual inflows.

OxPay Singapore's subsidiary Oxygen7 received Financial Services Licence to offer digital payments and cross-border remittance services in Bhutan.

Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) piloted artificial intelligence and machine learning models across five banks to strengthen pre-emptive scam detection.

XTransfer, a Chinese B2B cross-border payments company, filed for Hong Kong Initial Public Offering (IPO) seeking to raise $186M.

GSR, a crypto liquidity firm founded in 2013, raised an undisclosed amount from Standard Chartered's SC Ventures.

Payward, parent company of Kraken, a crypto trading company, acquired Reap in Hong Kong to expand its B2B payments offering with global payments infrastructure.

SBI Holdings in Japan entered talks to acquire a stake in Bitbank to expand its digital asset products suite in Japan.

OCBC in Singapore acquired HSBC's wealth and premier banking portfolio in Indonesia.