Indian and SEA regulators are worried about impact of Mythos | TWIF Asia - 27th Apr, 2026

Groww reported ₹686cr ($73M) net profit and ₹1,505cr ($160M) operating revenue in Q4 FY26, growing 122% and 88% YoY respectively.

YES Bank reported ₹1,068cr ($113M) net profit in Q4 FY26, up 45% YoY, driven by margin expansion and lower provisions.

ICICI Bank reported Q4 FY26 net profit of ₹13,702cr ($1.4bn), up 8.5% YoY, with full-year FY26 reaching ₹50,147cr ($5.3bn).

HDFC Bank reported ₹19,221cr ($2bn) Q4 FY26 net profit, up 9.1% YoY; full-year profit grew 11% to ₹74,671cr ($7.9bn).

Union Bank of India reported net profit of ₹5,316cr ($564M) in Q4 FY26, growing 6.6% YoY.

RBL Bank reported net profit of ₹230cr ($24M) in Q4 FY2026, up 234% YoY.

Zerodha analysed India's derivatives market as involving 1.8M traders with 70% premium turnover from 12,000 accounts, contradicting widespread speculation narratives.

Digital gold purchases through Unified Payments Interface (UPI) reached record 254M transactions valued at ₹3,172cr ($337M) in March 2026.

India's life insurance industry grew 16% to ₹4.59 lakh crore ($49bn) in FY26, driven by GST exemption and focus on high-margin products.

Pay Point India became a member in the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)'s Centralised Payment System (CPS).

ICRA projected Indian bank credit growth to decelerate to under 12% in FY27 from 15.6% in FY26, driven by geopolitical tensions and interest rate dynamics.

Jio Financial Services and Allianz Group signed an agreement for 50:50 general and health insurance joint venture.

Axis Finance, Axis Bank's lending subsidiary, raised ₹750cr ($80M).

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) infused ₹1,075cr ($114M) into SMFG India Credit (SMICC) via rights issue.

Kiwi partnered with Punjab National Bank (PNB) to launch RuPay-based credit card integrated with Unified Payments Interface (UPI), targeting 180M customers.

WhatsApp partnered with PayU to launch prepaid phone recharges in India, targeting increased payments adoption.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) raised compliance costs for core investment companies (CICs) with consolidated assets exceeding INR 1 lakh crore ($11bn) under new upper layer non-bank finance companies (NBFCs-UL) framework.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cancelled Paytm Payments Bank Limited's license citing compliance issues; Bernstein retained 'Outperform' rating.

India's Finance Minister urged SEBI to establish common Know Your Customer (KYC) norms, strengthen enforcement against misconduct.

India’s Finance Minister directed Indian banks to build stronger defences against emerging AI-led cyber risks linked to Anthropic's AI model 'Mythos'.

Oolka, an AI-powered credit management startup, raised ₹130Cr ($14M).

PrimeInvestor, a wealthtech PMS startup, raised ₹19.5cr ($2M).

Pine Labs acquired Shopflo, a commerce checkout startup, for ₹88cr ($9.5).

Raise Financial acquired Stratzy, an algo trading startup.

The UAE Capital Market Authority awarded finfluencer authorisation certificates to 171 financial influencers with cumulative 26.5M followers.

Standard Chartered and ASTAR* in Singapore jointly invested INR 91.5cr (USD 10.06M) in a three-year AI for Banking Innovation Lab.

UAE's B2B Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) market was projected to reach $4.7bn by 2030, growing at 24% CAGR.

Japan's B2B Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) market grew 32.4% to $4bn in 2025, projected to reach $11bn by 2030.

DBS, OCBC, and UOB reduced combined headcount by 2,976 roles (2.6% decline) in 2025, driven by integration efficiencies, attrition, and AI adoption.

SCBX, the fintech arm of Siam Commercial Bank in Thailand, posted consolidated net profit of $317M in Q1 2026, down 18.5% YoY.

Meezan Bank in Pakistan reported $84M profit in Q1 2026, growing 6% YoY with non-operating income surging 36% YoY.

Pakistan Bureau of Statistics reported Sensitive Price Index (SPI) at 14% YoY inflation for week ending April 23, driven by energy and food price surges.

Ant International, IFC, and GCash developed a sustainability scorecard to help Philippine MSMEs measure ESG impact, improve access to green financing, and drive inclusive, tech-enabled growth.

Hang Seng Bank launched end-to-end digital SME loan approvals in 10 seconds for facilities up to HK$8M ($1M).

Ant International and Citi in Australia partnered to launch PayTo-enabled real-time, secure, and low-cost account-to-account payments to improve cash flow for Australian SMEs.

OCBC Bank, in collaboration with its asset management arm, Lion Global Investors, and digital asset exchange DigiFT, launched the OCBC-LionGlobal Physical Gold Fund Token (GOLDX token) in Singapore.

MetaComp, a forex infrastructure startup, launched the StableX Know Your Agent (KYA) framework to govern AI agents across regulated financial services, establishing standards for identity, authorisation, and monitoring.

EBANX expanded recurring alternative payments across six markets (Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, South Africa, Colombia, Peru), now supporting 12 emerging markets with over 1 billion alternative payment method users.

Nium partnered with Coinbase to enable USDC stablecoin payments across 190+ countries, connecting onchain and traditional payment rails.

Thunes launched real-time pay-to-bank transfers to New Zealand, expanding its cross-border payments network across Asia Pacific.

Ant International deployed privacy enhancing technology (PET) across Alipay+ connecting 150M merchants and 1.8B consumer accounts.

JaiDee, a DeeAlpha and Seedflex joint venture in Thailand, launched Pay-As-You-Sell Advance, a revenue-linked merchant financing product for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

DBS expanded Spark GenAI with tiered support for Singapore SMEs, with 39% seeking AI integration advice.

Vietnam National Payment Corporation (NAPAS) partnered with GLN International, BIDV, and Hana Bank in South Korea to launch cross-border QR payments serving 115M+ users.

Bank of Punjab (BoP) in Pakistan, partnered with Stacks to explore stablecoin-based remittances and blockchain solutions.

ClearBank partnered with Tazapay, its first Singapore client, to offer UK and European payment rails for cross-border B2B payments across 170+ markets.

WeChat Pay integrated with national QR code networks in five Asian countries, enabling seamless cross-border payments for Chinese outbound travellers.

PayPay launched Overseas Payment Mode in Taiwan, enabling payments at approximately 400,000 locations with real-time Japanese yen conversion.

Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) in Hong Kong launched a regulatory framework for secondary trading of tokenised investment products on virtual asset trading platforms (VATPs) in Hong Kong.

Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) urged banks to strengthen cyber safeguards against Anthropic's Mythos AI model risks.

Bank for International Settlements (BIS) warned stablecoins remain limited for real economy use, flagging policy risks.

Bank for International Settlements (BIS) warned that multifunction cryptoasset intermediaries (MCIs) offer banking services lacking prudential safeguards, risking financial contagion.

Robinhood received in-principle approval from Singapore's Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to launch brokerage services in Singapore.

Salmon, a Philippine digital bank, raised $100M ($60M equity).

Hata, a Malaysian dual-licensed digital asset exchange, raised $8M.

Netbank, a Philippine Banking as a Service (BaaS) startup, raised an undisclosed amount.

Kredivo, Indonesia's buy now pay later (BNPL) firm, acquired Timo Vietnam JSC digital bank for $34M.