Kreditbee raised $280M; Aspire expands to US | TWIF Asia - Apr 11, 2026

Zerodha Fund House grew to manage INR 15,000 crore ($1.6bn) across 17 funds with 1.1M investors in FY2026.

Groww, a stockbroking company, surrendered its Payment Aggregator (PA) licence, exiting the payments segment approximately two years after receiving Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approval.

M Pallonji Group received Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) R1 approval for general insurance venture with ₹200cr ($22M) initial capital.

India's general insurance industry grew 9% YoY in FY26 to ₹3.36 lakh cr ($36bn), accelerated by health insurers and GST-related policy changes.

Indian banks' Current and Savings Accounts (CASA) ratio fell to 37.9% in Q4 FY26, a two-year low, as depositors shifted to higher-yielding assets, compressing net interest margins.

Bandhan Bank improved collection efficiency to 98.9% in March 2026 from 98.1% in December 2025, with assets under management growing 12.6% YoY.

AU Small Finance Bank reported 23% YoY deposit growth to ₹1.53 lakh cr ($16.5B) and 21.3% YoY gross loan growth to ₹1.40 lakh cr ($15bn).

HDFC Bank reported deposit growth of 14.4% YoY to ₹31 lakh cr ($334bn), outpacing lending AUM growth of 10.2% YoY in FY26.

Supermoney, Flipkart owned financial platform, achieved top 3 ranking in personal loan distribution, growing 350% YoY in India.

MYND Fintech, a TReDS supply chain finance company, achieved ₹8,000cr ($863M) annual throughput in FY26, marking over 100% YoY growth.

Pine Labs partnered with Axis Bank, OpenAI and Gullak to launch Agentic Commerce Suite, enabling merchants discoverable within Large Language Model (LLM) chat.

Zerodha launched fixed deposits on Coin, enabling investors to compare rates across multiple banks and track deposits in one place, starting with three small finance banks offering up to 8.0%/year

Bank of Baroda launched bob SAMVAD, an AI-powered multilingual platform supporting 22 languages for in-branch automated customer service.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released draft comments on consolidating 626 supervisory circulars into 64 Master Directions across 11 regulated entity types to enhance clarity and reduce compliance costs.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released draft Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS) Directions to harmonize Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) financing guidelines.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued a Discussion Paper on safeguards in digital payments to curb frauds, seeking feedback by May 8, 2026.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) revamped the business correspondent model, introducing BC-BO and BC-BT delivery points with standardized remuneration to strengthen last-mile financial services access in rural areas.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) proposed mandatory one-hour delay on transfers above ₹10,000 ($110) and enhanced verification for senior citizens to combat fraud surging to ₹23,000cr ($2.5bn) in 2025.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) mandated banks to credit inward remittances on the same business day with immediate customer alerts and one-hour nostro account reconciliation and six months for implementation.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) mandated Central Know Your Customer Records Registry (CKYCR) for payment aggregators (PAs) merchant onboarding.

Kreditbee, an unsecured digital lending startup, raised ₹2,590cr ($280M).

Atlas, an AI-led accounting platform, raised ₹56cr ($6M).

GoSats, a crypto asset-based rewards startup, raised ₹46cr ($5M).

GLAAS, an embedded credit infrastructure startup, raised $5M.

Wint Wealth, a fixed income investment startup, raised an undisclosed amount in an extended Series B round.

Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) Bank acquired 20% stake in Shriram Finance Ltd for ₹41,000 crore ($4.4bn), marking India's largest cross-border investment.

Aditya Birla Housing Finance sold a 14.3% stake for ₹2,750cr ($296M).

Aspire, a Singaporean business banking startup, expanded to the U.S. market with global-focused financial services.

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) and Nippon Life Insurance discussed establishing $3bn Leveraged Buyout (LBO) loan fund in Japan.

Toss, a South Korean payment and banking startup, is planning to develop its own blockchain network and cryptocurrency.

Pakistan's banking sector posted PKR 660bn ($2.4bn) in losses in Q1 2026, driven by rising interest rates.

Vietnam appointed Pham Duc An, 56, the ex-head of the nation’s biggest agricultural lender to run the Vietnamese central bank.

Vietnamese payment unicorn MoMo initiated with valuation indicated at $2bn.

CapBay and CGC Digital launched a Digital Guarantee Scheme offering MYR 50,000-500,000 (USD 12,556-125,549) financing to underserved MSMEs in Malaysia.

Thunes partnered with Circle Payments Network (CPN) Managed Payments to expand stablecoin-powered settlement across 140+ countries.

Generali Hong Kong partnered with global insurtech startup CoverGo to deploy a new Intelligent Document Processing.

MyRepublic in Singapore launched Email Guard, an enterprise-grade email security service powered by Check Point for Singapore Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

FOXAI and Axe Finance partnered to deliver AI-driven digital lending solutions for banks across Vietnam and Laos.

National Payment Corporation of Vietnam (NAPAS) partnered with Ant International and Vietcombank to expand QR payment connectivity, enabling Chinese tourists to use Alipay at Vietnamese merchants.

du Pay in UAE partnered with GCash in Philippines to facilitate faster remittances for Filipino expatriates in UAE, enabling wallet-to-wallet transfers within minutes.

CIMB launched CIMB Private Wealth in Indonesia in Jan 2026 and planned mid-2026 Malaysia launch, targeting to double Wealth Asset Under Management (AUM) by 2030.

KBank in Thailand partnered with StraitsX and Grab to launch blockchain-based cross-border payments between Thailand and Singapore.

Mastercard deployed authenticated agentic transactions across ASEAN markets with Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand rollout.

UnionPay in Hong Kong launched Agentic Payment Open Protocol (APOP) framework to standardise AI-driven transactions across ecosystem participants.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that cryptocurrency integration with traditional finance could amplify financial instability through liquidity shocks and weaker safeguards.

Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) reviewed GIRO payment safeguards with member banks, introducing monthly transaction limits and enhanced monitoring for billing organisations.

CAEX, a Vietnamese crypto trading platform, raised an undisclosed amount to meet VND10 trillion ($380M) minimum capital requirement.

Transak, a Malaysia fiat-to-digital asset payments infrastructure startup, raised and undisclosed amount.

Bolt Group, an Australian financial super app, acquired Beem, a retail payments app, from Australian Payments Plus (AP+)