Latest Insight
- Ant and Deutsche Bank announce strategic partnership
- Coins.ph launches regulated stablecoin in the Philippines
- Singapore’s motor insurance market poised for shake-up with Grab’s entry
- Philippines SEC issues new rules on crypto to protect the public
- Wise gains key approval as India reshapes global cross-border payments
- Worldpay GPR 2025 shows digital wallets continue to dominate in Asia
- New research sheds light on stablecoin payments in practice
- How fintech funding is unlocking financial access for millions in the Philippines
- Apple expands Tap to Pay across Europe
- Instant payments are fueling Cambodia's e-commerce boom
Latest Reports
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Beyond Swipe and Tap: Rewriting the Rules
The roundtable discussion at Japan FinTech Festival brought together leading experts from banking, fintech, technology and regulatory backgrounds to explore the current state and future potential of account-to-account (A2A) payments in Japan. The wide-ranging discussion surfaced several key insights and themes that will shape the trajectory of A2A in the… Breaking Borders
Despite progress in payment systems, the absence of a unified, cross-border Real-Time Payments (RTP) network means that intermediaries play a crucial role in facilitating connectivity. This report examines the ongoing complexities, challenges, and initiatives in creating a seamless payment landscape across Asia. Innovate to Elevate
In the dynamic and diverse financial landscape of the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, banks are at a pivotal juncture, facing the twin imperatives of innovation and resilience to meet evolving consumer expectations and navigate digital disruption.
Press Release
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Kapronasia's Research Director, Josef Jelinek, Invited as Panel Speaker at Sibos 2024Sibos, organized by SWIFT and held annually, is a premier event for global financial services professionals, offering a platform for thought leadership and networking. At this year’s conference, Josef Jelinek, Director of Research, participated in a Swift Innotribe panel on "The Future of Financial Inclusion: A View from APAC."
In a significant move for India's financial technology landscape, global payments company Wise has received in-principle approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate as a cross-border payment aggregator. This development is a key indicator of India's broader strategy to modernize and internationalize its payment ecosystems, promising a more streamlined and cost-effective future for international transactions.
According to Worldpay’s Global Payments Report 2025, in eight out of the fourteen APAC markets covered, digital wallets have become the leading online payment method. This widespread adoption is driven by consumer preference for convenience and speed, as well as the integration of digital wallets with various payment platforms and services. The ubiquity of smartphones and the increasing penetration of internet access have further facilitated the growth of digital wallets, making them an essential tool for both consumers and merchants.
Cambodia's e-commerce market is experiencing a phenomenal surge, transforming the nation's economic landscape. This growth is not just a coincidence; it is the result of a powerful combination of factors, with the widespread adoption of QR codes and instant payment systems at its core.
In April 2024, PayU, a global fintech company backed by Prosus, received in-principle approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate as an online payment aggregator (PA). This milestone marked a significant step in PayU's journey to becoming a fully licensed payment service provider in India. The final approval, granted in May 2025, has profound implications for PayU, the digital payments ecosystem, and the broader Indian economy.
The Asia-Pacific (APAC) region has firmly established itself as a global hub for mobile payments, boasting a dynamic and well-established market with over 60 active mobile wallet brands and platforms, not including numerous bank-backed applications – as noted in a recent e-book published by Thunes, a cross-border payment infrastructure company based in Singapore. This burgeoning landscape is not a monolith; rather, it is a vibrant tapestry woven with distinct local preferences, powerful government initiatives, and the overarching influence of the all-encompassing super-app.
During the months of March and April 2025, India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) experienced several outages, with the most notable disruption occurring on April 12, when the system was affected for nearly five hours. This marks the longest downtime in recent years. According to the NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India), the developer and operator of UPI, the system previously experienced partial and intermittent outages in March 2025 for 95 minutes and in January 2022 for 187 minutes. A few weeks after the incident, NPCI released a Root Cause Analysis (RCA) report which explained that the April 12 outage was caused by payment service provider (PSP) banks sending an excessive number of ‘Check Transaction Status’ API calls which overwhelmed the system’s capacity and led to instability. The situation worsened when a few PSP banks began sending multiple ‘Check Transaction’ API calls for even older transactions.
Mastercard’s latest announcement to expand stablecoin usability for everyday payments marks a pivotal moment in the ongoing convergence between traditional financial infrastructure and blockchain-based innovations. By enabling consumers to spend stablecoins through conventional card networks and offering merchants settlement options in stablecoins like USDC, Mastercard is laying down foundational rails for what may soon be a global shift in how value moves.
Thailand’s financial landscape is headed for further changes and disruptions with the recent announcement that the Bank of Thailand (BOT) has given the green light to three consortia to launch virtual banking services. The BOT came to its decision following a selection process that ran from March to September 2024, during which five consortium-led applicants vied for the coveted licenses. The three approved applicants were evaluated based on their financial strength, business model and readiness to meet regulatory requirements for operating a digital bank.
Despite the advancements in financial technology and digital payments, a large number of small businesses still face difficulties with transacting across borders. At the same time, industry reports, including Mastercard’s Borderless Payments Report, all highlight the growing demand from SMEs for secure, fast, and reliable cross-border payment solutions. According to the 2023 Mastercard report, more than half of SMEs surveyed said that they are doing more international business compared to 2021 and 75% are implementing strategies to expand internationally. The most common concerns and complaints of SMEs are related to the transparency of payments, fraud risk, and delays and fees.
Activity in Asia’s remittance market shows no signs of slowing down as a flurry of partnerships and new product launches signal growing interest in the sector. In China, Xoom, the digital remittance subsidiary of PayPal announced a partnership with Tencent to enable Weixin Pay users to receive funds in their Weixin Pay wallets or bank accounts. This collaboration is aimed at providing more options for customers to remit funds to China, in particular customers in the U.S., Canada and Europe which are markets that have high value and volume of remittance outflows to China. Xoom has previously collaborated with Alipay to enable cross-border payments to AliPay users in China, so this new tie up with Weixin Pay will help strengthen Xoom’s presence in China.
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In a strategic leap that exemplifies the fusion of global fintech ambition and hyperlocal consumer behavior, Stripe has expanded its partnership with Tencent to enable in-person payments via Weixin Pay (also known as WeChat Pay) on Stripe Terminal across 20 countries. This move is more than a technical integration, it is a bold acknowledgment of how commerce is evolving to accommodate cultural and digital fluidity.
In a significant stride towards regional financial integration, the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) has officially joined the Regional Payment Connectivity (RPC) initiative. This move not only marks Cambodia’s deepening engagement in ASEAN’s digital financial ecosystem but also underscores the broader ambitions of the bloc to streamline and modernize cross-border payments.
This is the fourth and final blog in our series on Digital Asset Custody, in partnership with Ripple. The first blog in the series highlighted the rise of digital assets in Asia Pacific, exploring the opportunities and challenges for custodian banks in this growing space. The second blog explored how strategic partnerships with established technology providers enable custodian banks to efficiently and securely navigate the complexities of digital asset custody. The third blog looked at tokenization use cases and how these are transforming traditional financial assets.
In the ever-evolving digital banking space, innovation is not just about sleek apps or cashback cards, it is about anticipating real-world needs and closing the gaps traditional banks often leave wide open. MariBank, a digital bank backed by tech giant Sea Group, has just done exactly that by becoming the first digital bank in Singapore to offer remittance services to both retail and SME customers. With this move, it is not only breaking new ground, it is redefining the role digital banks can play in cross-border finance.
In a pivotal leap forward for global finance, Nexus Global Payments (NGP) has officially launched, ushering in a new chapter for cross-border transactions. Born from a bold vision seeded by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in 2021, what began as a proof-of-concept has now matured into an operational reality. The shift marks not only a technological milestone but a profound transformation in how countries could approach international payments going forward.