Hi fintech friends, I'm Osborne, investor in early stage startups.

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🧐🏆 Posts of the Week

(Note: Neither TWIF nor I endorse any views in the tweets highlighted above.)

📈 Chart of the week

Source: Apollo Global Management

🇮🇳 India

📰 Market Updates

1. ICICI Lombard General Insurance announced plans to increase investments in its health insurance business to align market share with its non-life portfolio, and remains open to potential acquisitions in the retail health space.
2. Hybrid mutual fund inflows decreased 18% YoY to INR 1.19 lakh crore ($14bn) in FY25, but AUM grew 22% YoY to INR 8.83 lakh crore ($102bn) as investor folios surged to 1.56 crore (15M), according to AMFI data.
3. Gold loans in India grew 103% YoY to INR 2.1 lakh crore ($24.3B) in FY25, even as overall bank credit growth slowed to 11% according to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data.
4. National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) introduced features to reduce response times for key UPI APIs from 30 seconds to 10-15 seconds effective June 16, 2025, aiming to resolve delays and declined transactions.
5. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reported credit growth to agriculture sector slowed to 10.4% YoY for fortnight ended March 21, 20235, while advances to industry remained flat at 8% YoY.
6. India's microfinance sector gross Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) grew to 16% in FY25, up from 8.8% in FY24, as the joint liability-based lending model faltered, with gross loan portfolio contracting 7% YoY.
7. Bank credit growth in India slowed to 12% in FY25 from 16% YoY, reflecting regulatory curbs in retail and unsecured lending, according to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data.
8. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recommended removing the 30% limit on foreign banks using Special Rupee Vostro Accounts (SRVAs) to buy short-term government debt, aiming to incentivize rupee-denominated investment and trade.
9. Warburg Pincus, a US-based private equity firm, sought approval from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to acquire a 9.99% stake in IDFC First Bank.

🚀 Product Launches

1. Razorpay launched a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for AI-based payment integration.
2. PayNearby partnered with M-Swasth to deliver affordable healthcare services to underserved communities in India through a network of over 3,800 specialized e-clinics as part of its Digital Naari initiative.

📝 Regulatory Updates

1. SEBI (securities): Enabled registered stock brokers to conduct securities market operations in Gujarat International Finance Tech-city - International Financial Services Centre (GIFT-IFSC) under a Separate Business Unit (SBU), effective from May 2025. Directed brokers to collect all margins, except Value at Risk (VaR) and Extreme Loss Margin (ELM), by T+1 settlement day due to shift from T+2 to T+1 settlement cycle, effective immediately.
2. RBI (central bank): Imposed penalties on ICICI Bank, Bank of Baroda, IDBI Bank, and Bank of Maharashtra for non-compliance with various regulatory directives.

💰 Financing Announcements

1. Metafin, an Indian solar financing startup, raised INR 86.5cr ($10M).
2. Kaleidofin, a consumer lending startup, raised INR 44.5 crore ($5.3M).
3. Care.fi, an Indian healthcare-focused fintech startup, raised INR 6 crore ($0.7M) in debt.

ACQUISITION:

1. Perfios acquired IHX, a healthtech startup, to strengthen its capabilities in claims management within the healthcare insurance sector.

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🌏 Asia

📰 Market Updates:

1. Otoritas Jasa Keuangan (OJK), Indonesia's central bank, launched the AI Governance Framework for the Indonesian Banking Sector to guide responsible development and implementation of AI technologies in Indonesian banks.
2. WeLab Bank, a Hong Kong-based digital bank, achieved profitability in Q1 2025 with $96M net revenue, 30% YoY growth, and 120% YoY increase in total deposits.
3. Geoswift, a Singaporean payment technology startup, integrated Visa Direct to enable cross-border payouts in 32 countries and territories across 13 currencies, with plans for further expansion.
4. Visa, Mastercard and PayPal launched agentic commerce payments products in which AI agents will complete purchases on behalf of consumers, with 16-digit tokens linked to consumers' original cards and developer toolkits for integrating payments into AI workflows.
5. Mobilink Bank partnered with Daraz Pakistan to expand financial inclusion and enable digital participation for SMEs across Pakistan.
6. State Bank of Vietnam approved a two-year sandbox trial for peer-to-peer lending, credit scoring and open API data sharing starting July 1, 2025.
7. Backbase launched its AI-powered Banking Platform with "Intelligence Fabric" to embed AI into core banking operations for sales and service automation.
8. Mastercard partnered with OKX and Nuvei to enable stablecoin transactions from wallets to checkouts.
9. National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) and Payments Japan Association (PJA) signed MoU to connect KHQR and JPQR QR code payment systems.
10. OKX, a crypto exchange, introduced OKX Pay, a new app feature to make cryptocurrency payments and self-custody more accessible, initially supporting stablecoins like USDT and USDC.
11. Bank-owned apps gained popularity in Vietnam in Q4 2024, while independent fintech platforms like MoMo and ZaloPay saw declining usage and preference, according to a Decision Lab report.

💰 Financing Announcements

1. Thunes, a Singaporean cross-border payments infrastructure startup, raised $150M.
2. Fuze, a Singapore-based digital assets infrastructure provider, raised $12M.
3. Terminal 3, a Hong Kong-based Web3 startup leveraging blockchain and privacy-enhancing technologies, raised $8M.
4. Credilab, a Malaysian lending startup, raised $1M.

ACQUISITIONS:

1. Bank Alfalah Limited, a Pakistani bank, sold its complete 95.59% stake in Alfalah Securities to Optimus Capital Management for an undisclosed amount.

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