Moneyview targets ₹1,500cr IPO; UOB explores sale of its $41B AMC | TWIF Asia - 07th Mar

Moneyview filed Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to raise ₹1,500cr ($165M) through Initial Public Offering (IPO).

Pine Labs, a payments company, planned to launch stablecoin-backed prepaid cards across nine countries by end of April 2026.

South Indian Bank partnered with smallcase to launch Loan Against Mutual Funds at 9.99% per annum, enabling digital credit across fintech platforms.

Oxyzo, a business financing startup, launched Oxyzo Credit Fund I, a secured credit fund for mid-sized investment-grade companies, targeting ₹3,000cr ($330M) AUM over four to five years.

Groww launched GR 1, an AI investing assistant, expanded Groww Prime, launched retail bond market access.

Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) issued regulatory reporting guidelines for Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) in March 2026.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued draft Amendment Directions across seven bank categories to expand fraud liability protections and introduce compensation mechanism for small-value fraudulent electronic banking transactions.

Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) mandated Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS) adoption for all insurers effective April 1, 2026, aligning with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

Moneyboxx, a rural finance company, raised ₹33cr ($3.7M).

Mintoak, a small business payments company, acquired ICC Loyalty, a Dubai-based customer loyalty company.

IFS Capital, a Singapore-listed private credit specialist, launched Lendingpot in Hong Kong, marking its expansion into the Greater China region.

Kazakhstan Central Bank allocated $350M from reserves for cryptocurrency and high-tech company investments.

Singapore partnered with JPMorgan, UBS, ICBC Standard Bank, DBS Group, UOB, and OCBC to develop a regional physical gold trading and storage hub.

Razorpay Curlec, part of India’s Razorpay group, launched Apple Pay support in Malaysia, allowing merchants to accept local and international Visa and Mastercard payments across iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch.

Igloo, a Southeast Asian insurance startup, launched embedded insurance in Philippines and partnered with 40+ platforms.

Softment, a South Korean payments startup, launched in Taiwan with smart ordering and multilingual payment services targeting tourist hotspots.

Ripple expanded its payments platform with stablecoin capabilities, processing over $100bn in transaction volume across 60+ markets.

Mastercard completed its first live AI agent-initiated payment transaction in Singapore with DBS and UOB using Agent Pay framework.

ShopeePay, a digital payment and financial services provider in Southeast Asia and Brazil, partnered with Alipay+ to launch cross-border QR code payments across 150M+ merchants in 100+ markets, starting with 28 countries.

Endowus launched WealthHERWay to support women investors in Hong Kong and Singapore through research and investment education.

Mastercard and Google introduced Verifiable Intent, a standards-based framework enabling secure AI agent-initiated transactions with cryptographic verification.

DBS China secured a principal underwriting licence for non-financial corporate bonds in China's Interbank Bond Market, enabling lead underwriter capabilities.

Malaysia's National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) expanded to 24-hour operations, freezing 140K suspected scam accounts and preventing RM34M ($8.6M) in fraudulent transfers in 2025.

Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) issued climate risk management guidelines for banks, insurers, and asset managers, effective September 2027 after 18-month transition period.

Dyna.AI, an agentic AI startup for regulated industries, raised an undisclosed amount.

LoanOptions, an AI-driven finance brokerage, merged with Asset Alley, marking its first M&A deal and a major step in expanding its presence in commercial and equipment finance.