Hi fintech friends,
This week’s stories circled around regulation: how cross-border players are using licences to shape their next stage of growth, and how they are working through scrutiny when it comes. On the expansion side, PhotonPay picked up a US state MTL, and Airwallex leaned further into a license-led strategy with its acquisition of Korea’s Paynuri. On the oversight side, AUSTRAC ordered an external AML/CTF audit of Airwallex in Australia, while in the US Binance stayed “wait and see” on a potential return to the market.
Lots to unpack — read on.
Licensing & Regulations
Hong Kong said it would issue the first batch of fiat stablecoin licenses in Q1 under its 2025 regime.
AUSTRAC ordered an external audit of Airwallex over suspected AML/CTF gaps in Australia, even as the firm said a 2025 independent review had already validated its programme.
Binance co-CEO Richard Teng called the US a “very important marketplace” but stuck to a wait‑and‑see stance on reentry.
PhotonPay obtained a US state Money Transmitter License (MTL).
Product & Partnership Launches
Bank Indonesia targeted Q1 2026 to switch on QRIS cross-border payments with China and South Korea.
Thunes and UnionPay International launched a direct connection for UnionPay MoneyExpress, enabling near‑instant pay‑to‑card transfers into UnionPay debit cards in mainland China with upfront FX and fewer frictions.
Chocolate Financelaunched in Hong Kong after two years in Singapore.
WeBank, KakaoBank and Thailand’s SCBX agreed to build an AI‑driven virtual bank in Thailand aimed at retail and small business customers.
Malaysian fintech Instapay deepened its partnership with Alibaba Cloud to harden its e‑wallet and prepaid Mastercard stack for migrant workers in Malaysia.
Financing & Acquisition
Airwallex agreed to acquire Korea’s Paynuri to secure local payment, prepaid, and FX registrations.
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