Your AI Agent Now Gets Its Own Credit Card 💳 | TWIF Asia & India

AI fintechs Pinegap ($8M), M2P ($11M), Stable Money ($14.3M), and earthRe ($27M) secured funding.

RBI introduced key regulations: uniform interest rates, EMI device locking, and NBFC revolving credit ban; MobiKwik posted its third profitable quarter.

Grab's financial services revenue jumped 59% YoY; Indonesia's QRIS searches surged 475%; MariBank expanded regional digital payments.

MAS finalized AI risk guidelines; Maybank joined tokenized settlement; DBS/HSBC reported H1 profits in billions, showcasing innovation.

Capital Group in US acquired 1.5% stake in IIFL Finance for ₹374cr ($40M).

Shivalik Small Finance Bank acquired ManiBhavnam Home Finance India for ₹109cr ($11.5M), gaining ₹320cr ($33.6M) loan book.

Mintoak, a payment acceptance startup, acquired ICC Loyalty, a Dubai-based loyalty and issuing company.

Pepper Money in Australia completed the acquisition of RAMS home loan portfolio from Westpac Banking Corporation for $15.4bn.

Allianz Global Investors acquired UOB Asset Management for SGD 555M ($434M), expanding Asia Pacific assets under management to $195bn+.

Ionic Wealth, an Angel One-owned wealth-tech platform, launched Ionic Wealth AI, which combines investors’ consented 20-year MF Central transaction histories with institutional market intelligence to identify behavioural patterns, concentration risks and personalised portfolio actions.

PhonePe launched fixed deposit distribution and daily recurring deposits starting at INR 100 ($1) with partner banks.

India proposed a BRICS Trade Receivables Discounting System to improve Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) access to working capital and global market integration.

PayU partnered with Marg ERP to power Marg Pay, integrating payment infrastructure into Marg ERP's workflow for pharma distributors and MSME retailers.

super.money launched splitStore, an in-app marketplace offering zero-interest installments across 60+ brands.

Agricultural Bank of China partnered with Moonshot AI's Kimi to launch co-branded agentic credit cards offering limited rewards including NFC plush charms and monthly memberships.

Western Union partnered with Rain to launch Stablecard, combining USDPT stablecoin wallet with Visa card across 37 markets.

Maybank Singapore joined Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) BLOOM initiative to advance tokenised cross-border settlement with 16 industry participants.

DBS launched DBS for SMEs initiative offering advisory services, AI adoption programs, and financing support for Singapore SMEs across 190 countries in 132 currencies.

FIS launched Digital One Commercial banking platform across APAC to help banks serve SMEs and large enterprises without overhauling core technology.

Shinhan Bank in South Korea partnered with StoneX Payments to access 385 banks across 140 currencies in 180 countries.

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) explored tokenised payments and digital settlement systems, planning to open a Hong Kong hub by year-end 2026.

LuLu Exchange partnered with Stitch to consolidate multi-currency card operations across issuing, processing, foreign exchange, and reconciliation within one unified platform.

OSL Group, a Hong Kong based digital assets company, launched AgentPay, a stablecoin payment infrastructure enabling AI agents to execute autonomous payments.

Binance Pay partnered with TBCASoft to enable QR code payments through HIVEX Network, initially extending to 48M users across millions of merchant locations in Japan launching in Q3 2026.

Nucleus Software and Vietnam’s FPT Corporation launched FinnOne Neo 9.0 and FinnAxia 9.0 for AI-enabled digital lending and connected transaction banking.

Coupang and Woori Bank completed Korea's first end-to-end proof of concept for Korean Won (KRW) stablecoin payments and settlement on Tempo.

Multiplier Holdings, a Singaporean accounting AI rollup company, raised $35M at a $300M valuation

earthRe, a reinsurance company out of GIFT City, raised $27M.

Stable Money, a fixed income investments startup, raised ₹136cr ($14.3M) at a valuation of ₹2,507cr ($264M).

Pinegap, an Indian AI-powered equity research startup, raised ₹76cr ($8M).

GetVantage, an India-based B2B fintech for MSMEs, raised ₹63cr ($6.6M).

PayGlocal, India's cross-border payments startup, raised ₹36.4cr ($3.8M) at ₹1,140cr ($120M) valuation.

MIST, an Australian student finance startup, raised A$3.5M ($2.5M).

M2P Fintech, an Indian banking infrastructure startup, raised ₹100cr ($11M) in debt for artificial intelligence expansion.

Funding Societies raised a working-capital debt facility to expand digital financing for underserved, technology-driven Malaysian SMEs.

Indian banks proposed conditional confirmation prompts for high-risk peer-to-peer Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions to counter digital frauds.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Sanjay Malhotra stated that liquidity inflows from the Foreign Currency Non-Resident Account (FCNR(B)) deposit scheme, receiving $36bn in July 2026, will peak in Q2 2026 and subsequently ease.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) proposed uniform interest rate norms across banks and non-bank financial companies (NBFCs) to standardize loan pricing and strengthen consumer protection.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) introduced device locking regulations for Equated Monthly Installment (EMI)-financed gadgets, allowing gradual restrictions after 30 days past due with safeguards protecting borrowers' emergency access.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) prohibited non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) from offering revolving credit products, mandating term loan structures instead.

Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) finalised AI risk management guidelines covering agentic AI and other AI use cases in financial institutions.

Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced plans to add more banks to COSMIC platform and expand beyond three initial financial crime risks within two years.

Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA) advanced Licensing Regulations to operationalise virtual asset service provider licensing regime.

SEBI streamlined its market intermediaries inspection framework, cutting FY27 target by one-third.

HSBC India reported $803cr ($85M) profit before tax in H1 2026, growing 4% YoY.

MobiKwik posted its third consecutive profitable quarter, Q1 FY27 net profit of ₹7.6cr ($800K) versus a ₹42cr ($4.2M) YoY loss, as revenue rose 3.7% to ₹281.5cr ($29.6M) and lower lending costs improved margins.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reported Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) credit growth accelerated to 14.4% YoY in June 2026, with retail loans growing 20.3% YoY.

Grab's financial services revenue grew 59% YoY to $134M in Q2 2026, driven by lending and digital banking, with loan disbursements reaching $1.2bn.

HSBC grew H1 2026 profit before tax by 23% to $19.5bn, with net interest income and wealth fees driving growth.

Roojai Insurance in Thailand, recorded $16M gross written premiums in H1 2026, targeting 6% Thailand motor insurance market share by 2030 while expanding health and regional offerings.

Indonesia Quick Response Code Indonesian Standard (QRIS) searches grew 475% between H1 2022 and H1 2026, fastest growth amongst six Southeast Asian markets.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) June-quarter net profit grew 48% YoY to $5.1bn, beating estimates as higher Japanese rates and robust corporate borrowing lifted loan income.

Philippine fintech ecosystem expanded to over 300 firms, leveraging $40bn remittances in 2025, with regulatory support driving financial inclusion to 65% of adults.

MariBank, Sea Limited's digital banking unit, expanded regional operations from Singapore to Philippines, targeting underserved business owners.

Singapore’s FinTech Association launched a voluntary, self-assessed payments code requiring participating providers to disclose full costs upfront, including FX mark-ups, and strengthen fraud prevention, card-dispute protection, data security and operational resilience for non-crypto services.

DBS Group posted record Q2 2026 net profit of $2.4bn, up 9% YoY, driven by wealth management fees and treasury sales.