Sarah Chew covers Southeast Asia’s technology, fintech, digital policy, and AI adoption landscape for RECATOOLS. Her work focuses on how regulation, platform shifts, and emerging technologies affect businesses, consumers, and digital markets across Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

129
Articles
ASEAN Tech
Primary beat
May 2026
Writing since
~915 min
Total reading
All 129 ASEAN Tech 71 Finance 51 Business 4 AI & ML 3

Articles Showing 91–100 of 129

A hand holding a phone showing a grid of app icons — illustrating the store through which a rival marketplace can now be installed.
Business

A Rival App Store Is Now Inside Google Play. It Took Three Years of Litigation.

Aptoide Games went live inside Google Play in the United States on 10 August, the first competitor to do so under the Epic v. Google remedies. Catalogue access is the term that matters.

11 Aug 2026 · 7 min read
Small online seller labelling a parcel beside a laptop, illustrating the merchants this withholding tax reaches.
ASEAN Tech

Indonesia Switched On a Marketplace Tax. Four Days Later It Switched It Off.

Indonesia's four largest marketplaces began withholding 0.5% of seller turnover on 1 August. The finance minister postponed the regime on 5 August, the tax office has since set a 1 November restart with refunds, and the four collector appointments are being revoked.

8 Aug 2026 · 7 min read
Three people working together at a table with notebooks and a laptop.
Business

Singapore's Grant for First-Time Founders Got 65 Applications Last Year. It Approved 55

An 85 per cent approval rate on 65 applications says the filter is eligibility, not assessment. Two parliamentary replies set out both the numbers and the rules that produce them.

8 Aug 2026 · 8 min read
A red passenger train crossing a steel railway bridge over water.
ASEAN Tech

Two MPs Asked What the Johor Rail Link Does to Singapore Retail. The Numbers Come Later

The government says the RTS Link brings net benefits and that its taskforce reports later this year. The projected effects on spending, costs, employment and visitor flows were not given.

8 Aug 2026 · 8 min read
Business professional at the desk examining a software development agreement document.
Finance

MAS Was Asked When AI-Agent Rules Become Mandatory. It Confirmed the Scope, Not the Date

A written reply on 5 August confirmed that agentic AI sits inside guidelines MAS has not yet issued. It gave no timeline, and described the industry framework as a potential approach.

7 Aug 2026 · 10 min read
National flags of many countries flying on poles against a clear blue sky.
ASEAN Tech

ASEAN Signs One Digital Rulebook in November. Its Members Keep Writing Their Own

DEFA negotiations concluded in May and signature is set for November. In the ten weeks between, five member states legislated separately in the areas it covers.

6 Aug 2026 · 8 min read
The word FINANCE in large letters on a glass office building facade reflecting clouds and sky.
Finance

Indonesia's Crypto Market Now Answers to the Regulator That Supervises Banks

On 1 July the governance and reporting duties of a financial-sector business took effect for Indonesian crypto platforms, on a market of nearly 20 million holders.

5 Aug 2026 · 9 min read
Rows of insulators and steel busbar frames in an outdoor high-voltage electrical substation.
ASEAN Tech

Thailand Now Makes Data Centres Prove the Power Exists Before Approving Them

Since 30 March, a data-centre developer seeking Thai investment privileges must file a letter from the energy regulator confirming the electricity exists.

3 Aug 2026 · 8 min read
Manila skyline at twilight reflected in the bay, with high-rise towers along the waterfront
ASEAN Tech

ASEAN Tech Summit Convenes in Manila as the Region's Digital Trade Pact Heads for a November Signing

Organisers expected more than 4,000 delegates in Pasay City on 28–29 July, under the Philippine chairship. Negotiations on the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement closed in May; the signature is due in November, and the unfinished work is domestic.

2 Aug 2026 · 5 min read
Container terminal cranes at Singapore's port with the central business district skyline behind
Finance

MAS Tightened Again and Most Economists Missed It. What "Steepening the Slope" Actually Means

Singapore does not set an interest rate. It steers a currency band, and on 27 July it steered harder — against the expectations of 12 of the 16 economists polled by Reuters.

2 Aug 2026 · 8 min read
Editorial Policy →
Advertisement