Digitalisation

CT recently caught up with Manoj Dugar and Yvonne Yiu, HSBC’s Apac regional co-heads, global payments solutions, about how payments are being impacted by tariffs, AI, cost pressures, differing systems, and the desire for speed and interoperability.

Fintech working capital firm Riverchain has completed a $5m series A funding, and is eyeing expansion in SEA to support subcontractors’ liquidity management beyond Hong Kong.

Ripple said it will support blockchain-based fund management and money movement capabilities through GTreasury, combining traditional treasury practices with digital asset solutions.

Humayun Habib, former Apac director of finance at Cargill, spoke about his experience on the production lines, which later helped him succeed in finance transformation. Habib has moved to a new role at Malaysia’s Premium Vegetable Oils.

The markets in Asia added are: Japan, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Thailand, Vietnam and Nepal; the UAE in the Middle East has also been added.

34 banks from 16 markets will support a phased development of the blockchain-based network.

The capability to link all systems, including procurement processing and travel management, to a centralised ERP platform can significantly help streamline finance operations, according to Giselle Arellano Geronimo, the firm's local head of finance.

The system, which encompasses forecasting tools and a large language model, is available globally, except for mainland China.

Bankers spoke to CT about key trends observed across Apac treasury teams, at Bank of America’s Treasury Leaders Summit in Singapore.

Toll Group’s executive chairman Thomas Knudsen told CT about the freight firm's plans to step up investment in Asia, where shifting trade corridors, rising middle-class consumption, and a push toward decarbonisation are rewriting the rules of logistics.

Experiments have proved availability of direct payments from bank accounts to digital wallets.

Postal services across Asia Pacific are dealing with the fallout from the removal of so-called US ‘de minimis’ tariff exemption from small packages below the value of $800 sent to the US; also this week, 50% tariffs on many goods being sent from India to the US have started.