Finance

Snowflake jumps 36 per cent in a day on an earnings beat and a US$6 billion AWS chip deal

Snowflake had its best day as a public company on 28 May, closing up 36 per cent after a clean first-quarter beat and a five-year, US$6 billion commitment to Amazon Web Services for custom AI silicon. Revenue rose 34 per cent to US$1.39 billion, and management lifted full-year guidance.

1 Jun 2026 · 3 min read

Finance

MAS Scraps Mandatory Financial Advice for Most Complex Product Buyers in Retail Shake-Up

Singapore retail investors buying structured notes, derivatives and investment-linked policies will no longer need mandatory financial advice before transacting. MAS published its consultation response on 15 May 2026, replacing the advice obligation with enhanced disclosure tools — while keeping targeted protections for investors who fail the Customer Knowledge Assessment and a separately defined Selected Client category.

1 Jun 2026 · 5 min read

Finance

SEC Rewrites Float Rules, PSE Moves to Implement Them — Clearing the Path for GCash's USD 1B Philippine IPO

The SEC lowered the public float floor for large Philippine issuers in February 2026. The PSE followed with a consultation paper in April. The timing tracks precisely with Mynt's plan to file for a USD 1 billion IPO as early as July — a transaction that would dwarf every prior listing on the exchange.

1 Jun 2026 · 6 min read

Finance

Vietnam Shortlists Five Crypto Exchanges for Q3 2026 Regulated Digital Asset Market Launch

Vietnam's Ministry of Finance has cleared five exchanges — VIXEX, SCEX, CAEX, TCEX, and Vietnam Digital Assets — for pilot crypto licences under Resolution No. 05, with Deputy Finance Minister Nguyen Duc Chi setting a Q3 2026 target for the country's first regulated digital asset market.

1 Jun 2026 · 5 min read

Finance

Hong Kong's First Licensed HKD Stablecoins Are Months Away as HSBC and Anchorpoint Ready Commercial Launches

Hong Kong awarded its first stablecoin issuer licences on 10 April 2026 — HSBC and Anchorpoint Financial each received approval after the HKMA assessed 36 applications. HSBC targets a second-half 2026 launch integrated with PayMe and its mobile banking app, while Anchorpoint has not set a public availability date for its HKDAP token. The framework imposes strict KYC and a zero-threshold travel rule on all transfers.

1 Jun 2026 · 5 min read

Finance

UPI Posts All-Time Monthly Record of 23.2 Billion Transactions in May 2026, Handling Nearly Half of Global Real-Time Payments

India's UPI processed 23.20 billion transactions worth ₹29.90 lakh crore in May 2026 — a new all-time monthly high — growing 24% year on year as informal-economy adoption drives volume well beyond earlier forecasts. UPI's dominance in global real-time payments and its cross-border expansion toward a 20-country target by FY2028-29 are reshaping the calculus for ASEAN fintech.

1 Jun 2026 · 5 min read

Finance

Nubank Posts $5 Billion Quarterly Revenue and 135 Million Customers as NuFormer AI Goes Live in Credit Decisioning

Nu Holdings crossed $5 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time in Q1 2026, reported 135 million customers globally, and confirmed Mexico has reached break-even — while its in-house NuFormer foundation models now price every personal loan in real time.

1 Jun 2026 · 4 min read

Finance

KakaoBank Lines Up Planners and Managers for Won-Stablecoin Push as South Korea's Crypto Law Stalls Again

KakaoBank has posted roles for stablecoin service planners and business planning managers, while sister company KakaoPay recruits server developers — the clearest signal yet that Kakao Group has shifted from strategy papers to active hiring, even as the legislation meant to govern what it is building was quietly shelved on 12 May 2026.

1 Jun 2026 · 5 min read

Finance

SK Hynix Crosses US$1 Trillion, Giving South Korea Two Trillion-Dollar Companies at Once

SK Hynix shares rose 9.41% on 27 May 2026, pushing its market cap to roughly US$1.07 trillion — three weeks after Samsung crossed the same line. It is the third Asian company to reach a trillion-dollar value, after Taiwan's TSMC and Samsung, and it gives South Korea two trillion-dollar companies at the same time, on the back of record HBM margins.

1 Jun 2026 · 5 min read

Finance

SoftBank Dethrones Toyota as Japan's Most Valuable Company on AI Wave, Marking First Shift in 22 Years

SoftBank Group surged 14% in a single Tokyo session on 1 June 2026, pushing its market cap past Toyota's ¥45.8 trillion to end more than two decades of automotive supremacy at the top of Japan's corporate hierarchy — driven by its AI-linked stakes in OpenAI and Arm Holdings.

1 Jun 2026 · 5 min read