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 Finance launched 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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