CheQ launched new Credit Card; Ryt Bank reached 1.2M users in 7 months | TWIF Asia - 18 Apr, 2026

Vanguard scaled its Hyderabad global capability centre to 550 employees within five months of launch in November 2025, targeting 1,000 by end of 2026 and 2,400 by 2029.

Women's credit penetration grew 5-fold to INR 76 lakh crore (USD 8.4B) between 2017 to 2025 per TransUnion Cibil report.

TransUnion CIBIL reported gold loan delinquency rates at 1.5% for borrowers with ₹2.5 lakh ($27K) outstanding, 2.2x higher than lower exposure borrowers.

Crisil projected Indian banks' gross Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) at 2.0-2.2% by March 2027, driven by strong corporate balance sheets despite West Asia conflict impacts on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

Axis Bank joined NPCI Bharat BillPay's Banking Connect platform, expanding the interoperable net-banking infrastructure to 8 banks and 4,800+ merchants.

Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) targeted ₹1 lakh crore ($11bn) in payment transaction volumes via payment aggregator product.

Muthoot Finance sought shareholder approval to enter insurance distribution across life, general, and health insurance sectors.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) discussed with commercial banks ways to attract larger, more stable deposits as household savings migrate to equities and mutual funds, with deposit growth at 10.8% YoY lagging loan expansion of 13.8% YoY.

InCred Financial Services closed its first special opportunities fund.

Poonawalla Fincorp raised ₹2,500cr ($270M) via Qualified Institutions Placement (QIP) for business growth and lending expansion.

360 ONE Asset secured ₹2,000cr ($216M) in commitments for its Private Investment in Public Equity (PIPE) strategy.

Sammaan Capital sold ₹5,000cr ($541M) stressed loan portfolio to Arcil at ₹2,400cr ($260M) valuation.

RateGain partnered with Razorpay to launch travel payments products.

CheQ, a credit product management startup, partnered with AU Small Finance Bank to launch a credit card with redefined rewards program.

Google Pay launched Pocket Money on Unified Payments Interface (UPI) Circle, enabling users without bank accounts to pay via primary account holders.

Zerodha expanded its Coin platform to offer fixed deposits alongside mutual funds, National Pension Scheme (NPS), and insurance.

8B and PayU partnered to integrate UPI, net banking, and Indian cards to launch Indian tourist UPI payment acceptance at Central Asian merchants.

Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) clarified that asset management companies must comply with stringent broad-based fund norms for Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs), requiring minimum 20 investors with no single investor holding over 25% corpus.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) restricted banks' net dollar positions to ₹910cr ($100M) and banned rupee hedging via Non-Deliverable Forwards (NDFs).

Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) permitted companies to resize Initial Public Offering (IPO) fresh issue size by up to 50% without refiling draft prospectus until September 30, 2026.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) flagged gaps in insurance surety bonds reporting, with issuances reaching ₹10,369cr ($1.1bn) for NHAI contracts as of July 2025.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor Swaminathan J warned that artificial intelligence (AI) adoption without safeguards risks amplifying existing financial sector weaknesses.

Zenskar, an AI-native revenue automation platform, raised ₹139cr ($15M).

HSBC completed a pilot on the Canton Network simulating issuance, transfer, and atomic settlement of its tokenised deposit service against other digital assets, marking the first time it used the service on a public blockchain.

Brazilian payments firm Ebanx expanded into Thailand, Indonesia, and Turkey, preparing Malaysia and Vietnam launches next quarter.

ASEAN reached $716M in cross-border QR payments across 36M transactions in 2025.

Payment providers across APAC integrated stablecoins into card infrastructure, enabling direct blockchain-based settlement while maintaining traditional payment rails, with B2B stablecoin payments reaching $36bn annualised run rate by early 2025.

Vietnam's push to build an international financial centre (IFC) is centered on fintech cooperation with Australia as part of its long-term strategy, as policymakers seek to modernise the banking system and attract global capital.

TransUnion in Hong Kong urged lenders to update their risk models for gig workers who represent 13% of workforce with 95% in prime credit tiers.

Ryt Bank, a Malaysian digital bank, crossed 1.2M users seven months post-launch, processing 25M transactions with 35x monthly growth.

OCBC Bank in Singapore launched a generative AI training program for 900 wealth advisors in Singapore, boosting revenue by 50%.

Airwallex launched POS Payments product integrating online and in-store payments across UK, Europe, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Choco Up, a Singaporean small business finance startup, partnered with CHUAN to launch a $30M credit facility for SEA Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

Singlife partnered with Singapore Management University to research retirement readiness and develop actuarial talent, addressing gaps in Singapore's retirement preparedness.

LankaPay partnered with Alipay+ to launch cross-border QR payments Chinese tourists.

The Central Bank of UAE launched a nationwide unified e-KYC platform to let banks and fintechs verify customers digitally.

Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) opened public consultation on crypto exchange-traded fund (ETF) rules, proposing spot crypto ETFs in mutual fund form with Bitcoin and Ethereum as initial eligible assets.

Hong Kong Monetary Authority awarded first stablecoin issuer licences to HSBC and Anchorpoint Financial Limited, requiring HK$25M ($3.2M) minimum capital.