Ant Group is bringing Alipay, digital payments and Zhima Credit under one business group as it prepares for AI-driven commerce. The restructuring places Alipay’s consumer services, payment operations and Zhima Credit under one leadership structure. In the UK, Zopa introduced an assistant that can carry out everyday banking tasks, while six banks published voluntary principles for purchases made through AI agents.

Elsewhere, PhonePe secured in-principle approval for a UAE payments business, Revolut applied for a Swiss banking licence, and Brazil changed Pix rules to allow recurring payments from salary accounts from 2027. Malaysia’s TNG Digital reported growing use of financial services within its wallet, while Philippine lender Billease prepared to bring banking services into its app.

Read more on the week’s key developments:

1. Ant Group consolidates Alipay businesses as it prepares for AI commerce

China’s Ant Group is consolidating its Alipay and Digital Payments business groups with the Zhima Credit unit into a new Alipay Business Group, according to a staff memo dated 21 September. The move reduces Ant’s tier-one business groups from five to four as the company prepares Alipay for AI-driven commerce. Ant’s separate lending business is not part of the reported consolidation.

Bringing payments, consumer services and Zhima Credit under one leadership structure could help Ant connect Alipay’s AI assistant to more stages of a purchase. The question for banks and payment providers is which services and payment options the assistant presents to consumers, and on what terms. Ant has not disclosed how many consumers use AI to make purchases or financial decisions.

2. PhonePe secures in-principle approval for UAE payments business

India’s PhonePe received in-principle approval from the Central Bank of the UAE for Retail Payment Services and Card Schemes and Stored Value Facilities licences on 22 September. The company has more than 720 million registered users and must secure final approval before launching commercial operations in the UAE. It plans to work with local banks and payment providers and explore integration with Aani and Jaywan, the country’s domestic payment rails.

PhonePe already enables Indian travellers to pay at some UAE merchants through cross-border QR arrangements. The proposed UAE business is a different undertaking, requiring local partnerships, merchant acceptance and regular use by residents. Approval would give PhonePe a route to test whether its payments technology can serve a domestic market beyond India rather than mainly follow Indian users abroad.

3. Brazil clears Pix Automático payments from salary accounts

Brazil’s central bank amended Pix rules on 18 September to allow Pix Automático payments from salary accounts from 1 July 2027. Pix Automático lets customers authorise recurring charges in advance. It will be the only form of outgoing Pix payment permitted from this type of account. Other changes to the rules cover payment requests combining Pix and boleto, alongside operational and fraud-related provisions.

The change would let workers pay recurring bills directly from the account into which their wages are paid, without first moving the money to another account. It does not make salary accounts available for ordinary Pix transfers. The provision takes effect on 1 July 2027, and its reach will depend on which billers offer Pix Automático and whether customers choose it over existing payment arrangements

4. Revolut applies for Swiss banking licence to offer local accounts

Revolut applied to Switzerland’s financial regulator, FINMA, for a banking licence on 16 September and committed to invest more than CHF 150 million ($183 million) in the country over five years. It already serves more than 1.3 million Swiss customers through its Lithuanian banking entity. If approved, a Swiss entity could offer local IBANs, salary accounts, eBill and deposits covered by the Swiss deposit guarantee scheme. The application remains under review.

A local salary account would give Revolut a better chance of becoming the account Swiss customers use for their wages and bills, rather than chiefly for spending and transfers. Revolut has already acquired a substantial customer base in Switzerland but cannot yet offer the full set of local banking functions it proposes. The licence decision, followed by salary and deposit uptake, will determine how far that position changes.

5. Zopa launches AI assistant for everyday banking tasks

UK digital bank Zopa introduced Ask Zopa on 16 September, allowing Biscuit current account customers to carry out banking tasks using natural-language requests and uploaded images. Customers can ask it to send money, split a bill from a photographed receipt, pay an uploaded invoice or create a savings pot. Zopa entered the UK current account market with Biscuit in June 2025 and now serves more than two million customers across its products. It built Ask Zopa on its own AI platform.

Ask Zopa can act on a customer’s instruction rather than simply answer a service question. That makes the accuracy of the instruction, the customer’s confirmation and the handling of mistakes central to the experience. Zopa says its existing AI resolves 65% of customer service queries and that customers interacting with its AI report satisfaction scores 10% higher. Those figures describe Zopa’s broader AI use, not adoption of Ask Zopa.

6. TNG eWallet expands use of its financial services hub

Malaysia’s TNG Digital said on 22 September that GOfinance had reached 8.5 million financial services users as of 31 August, up around 22% year on year. The hub sits within TNG eWallet, which has more than 27 million users, and provides access to insurance, financing, remittances, card services and investment products through partner institutions. More than four million people complete financial transactions through GOfinance monthly, while nearly 46% of its users engage with more than one financial product

More than four million people transact through GOfinance each month, and nearly 46% of its 8.5 million users use multiple financial products. TNG has also added GXBank’s revolving credit line to its in-app lending service, allowing customers to apply without opening a separate bank account. Outside GOfinance, more than half a million workers receive wages through TNG eWallet. These disclosures show how TNG is using the wallet to connect everyday payments with partner financial services.

7. Billease prepares to bring banking services into its app

Philippine buy now, pay later provider Billease has renamed its banking arm, formerly the Rural Bank of Santa Maria, as Billease Bank Inc. Billease’s parent acquired the rural bank in 2025. The bank plans to offer services including savings and deposits through the Billease app while continuing to serve customers at its existing branch. A PHP 500 million ($8 million) capital injection was announced in June, with capitalisation targeted to exceed PHP 1 billion ($16 million) by the end of 2026. The company still describes in-app banking as coming soon.

The existing rural bank gives Billease a regulated route to broaden its consumer offering beyond credit. Its next task is to bring borrowers into banking while building the service and risk controls required for a wider deposit base. Billease also uses bank credit lines to fund its lending business and doubled its RCBC facility to PHP 1 billion ($16 million) on 11 September. Deposits at Billease Bank should not be assumed to fund the parent’s lending directly.

8. Citi brings subscription management into UAE banking app

Citi launched Mastercard’s Smart Subscriptions in the UAE on 17 September, its first deployment of the feature worldwide and the first for a bank in the Middle East. Cardholders can view and manage digital subscriptions linked to their Citi cards, including streaming and meal-delivery services, in the bank’s app. The feature also helps users identify recurring transactions and merchant billing relationships.

Subscription charges can be difficult to track when they sit across multiple merchants and billing dates. Bringing them into the banking app gives customers a single place to inspect recurring card spending and gives Citi another reason for cardholders to open the app between purchases. The UAE launch will show whether customers use that visibility to manage their subscriptions. Mastercard’s spending results from other issuers do not establish an outcome for Citi.

9. Six banks publish principles for purchases made through AI agents

NatWest Group, Bank of America, Capital One, ING, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and ASB Bank published voluntary principles for agentic commerce. They address transparency, safety, privacy and data, choice and interoperability as AI agents begin to help consumers choose products and make purchases. The banks are inviting other participants in the payments system to help develop the principles into a practical framework.

An AI agent may choose a merchant and a payment method within the same purchase journey. The banks want customers to retain control over those choices and the protections they expect when paying. Their principles carry no binding requirements, so their practical value will depend on whether technology platforms, merchants and payment networks agree on how to record authorisation, handle disputes and apply existing payment safeguards.

10. GXBank and Mastercard study what happens after digital account opening

Malaysia’s GXBank and Mastercard published a white paper on 21 September based on 12 months of transaction data from more than 39,000 GXBank customers who opened accounts in 2023 and 2024, supplemented by focus groups. GXBank was the first of Malaysia’s licensed digital banks to begin operations and opened its app to the public in November 2023, offering savings accounts, debit cards and goal-based savings pockets. Among active customers, debit card transactions rose 250% during their first 60 days. Customers who allocated 10% to 20% of deposits to goal-based savings progressed further along the study’s financial-health measure 22% more often.

The study puts attention on what customers do after opening an account. Early payments and regular saving were associated with stronger outcomes, although the findings do not show that the app caused those changes. Incentives remain part of the picture. Some 38% of disengaged customers cited declining rewards as a reason for reduced activity. For GXBank, the findings point to opportunities to encourage regular card use and goal-based saving as customers move beyond initial rewards.