South Korea’s K Bank had a strong third quarter during which its net income surged almost 181% annually to 37 billion won (US$26.3 million). Through September, the online lender had accrued profits of 122.4 billion won, up 220% from the first nine months of 2023. K Bank’s customer numbers are rising steadily as well, reaching 12 million by the end of September, thanks to strong demand for high-interest rate deposits, cashback programs and mortgage loans. There was really no bad news in K Bank’s earnings report, but the lender still faces significant challenges due to its close ties with the cryptocurrency exchange Upbit and its general high reliance on digital assets to fuel growth.

What happened to the digital rupee? With each passing week, it seems that India’s CBDC project is fading further into the background of the subcontinent’s financial ecosystem. In contrast to China, which is unswervingly pressing forward with the digital renminbi – irrespective of actual market demand, it should be noted – India’s financial regulators seem uncertain if they really want a digital fiat currency.

Singapore has become one of the two most important financial centers in Asia alongside Hong Kong and the region’s top fintech hub. Yet Singapore’s strengths as a financial center do not extend to capital markets. In this segment, it is one of the weakest performers in the region. This has been consistently true in recent years, despite efforts to improve the situation.

Ever since the China-led central bank digital currency project mBridge was launched several years ago, there have been whispers that its ultimate goal was to develop an alternative payments rail that could circumvent the U.S.-dominated international financial system. That is because mBridge aims to establish direct links between the central banks of its participants, allowing money to be sent outside of the existing correspondent banking system. It was primarily the involvement of the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) in mBridge that gave the project an appearance of neutrality. Yet with the news that BIS is considering shutting down the project, it seems clear the CBDC cross-border payments initiative cannot be separated from geopolitical tensions.

South Korea’s No. 2 digital bank K Bank has postponed its IPO plans yet again, after seemingly having committed to a listing in the near future. This development comes as something of a surprise. K Bank posted a net profit of 85.4 billion won (US$64 million) in the first half of this year, the highest since its establishment and more than thrice as much as during the same period a year ago. It seemed that the company had adequate momentum to finally go public. However, looking at a few aspects of K Bank’s business model, we can see why it is delaying the IPO again.

Hong Kong’s financial regulators and at least some in the industry seem to believe that the city’s future as a financial hub depends on its embrace of cryptocurrency. For the past two years, Hong Kong has been relentlessly pitching itself as a digital assets hub in an effort to regain ground lost to Singapore and mainland China. The city-state has emerged as a larger and more important fintech hub, while mainland Chinese stock exchanges are attracting companies to list that might have once chosen to go public in Hong Kong. While it can be argued that Hong Kong would be better served by focusing less on an industry that remains problematic in many respects, its big bet on crypto might end up paying off big.

Massive hype about central bank digital currencies – and in particular the retail segment – has not translated to widescale adoption in Asia. This is particularly notable in the region’s two largest economies and nations by population: China and India. Yet while retail users have limited interest in digital fiat currencies in China and India, they are flocking to Cambodia’s Project Bakong, which surpassed 10 million accounts (60% of Cambodia’s population) in December 2023. The National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) jointly developed Bakong with the Japanese blockchain technology startup Soramitsu, launching it in October 2020.

2024 may ultimately be remembered as the year when Paytm’s regulatory travails got real. Ever since the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) effectively forced the shutdown of the company’s payments bank earlier this year, Paytm has been endeavoring to convince investors it has a viable way forward. In some ways, the company is paying the price for an earlier stage of undisciplined growth that strayed from its core payments business and burned cash without delivering significant business breakthroughs.

Viva Republica’s Toss Bank has been visibly contemplating an initial public offering (IPO) since earlier this year. It is aiming to achieve a valuation of 15 to 20 trillion won (US$11 billion-US$15 billion). Toss is feeling increasingly good about going public because of what it sees as strong fundamentals. It has amassed more than 19.1 million monthly active users, while its loan brokerage, payments, advertising and tax services are performing well, as is its subsidiary Toss Securities.

With one of the world’s largest unbanked populations, Pakistan is one of Asia’s last major nascent fintech markets. Yet in 2023 and through the first half of 2024, it was mired in a funding slump – not unusual given the broader global trend, but problematic for a country that truly needs more digital banking services to boost financial inclusion. In the 2023 fiscal year, fintech funding in Pakistan fell 80% to just US$20 million while the number of deals decreased 44% to just eight. However, 2024 could turn out to be a better year for funding given rising investor interest.