AI and robotics could vastly expand production, but ownership, taxation and distribution will determine who benefits.

Hong Kong’s leading banks accelerated median pre-tax profit growth to 16.3% year on year (YOY) in the first half of 2026 (1H2026). HSBC Hong Kong (including Hang Seng Bank) continued to lead the large-scale bank segment in earnings scale and returns, while DBS Hong Kong and CMB Wing Lung Bank delivered stronger growth momentum and profitability among mid-sized banks. Across the sector, growth was increasingly supported by fee-based businesses, wealth management, cross-border activity and digitally-enabled customer engagement, which emerged as key drivers of revenue expansion.

Sustainable Finance Weekly: South Korea’s K-GX commits KRW 1,000 trillion to industrial decarbonisation, Thailand’s sovereign SLB adds a nature-related target and Masdar extends its framework to selected offshore renewable projects.

TAB China Weekly Brief: Golden Week lifts Alipay and Weixin cross-border payments as China begins mortgage subsidies, auctions RMB 150 billion in bank capital bonds and enforces online financial marketing rules.

Financial Technology Weekly: MAS and Ping An Bank tighten AI accountability as agentic tools reshape bank operations, while DNB cuts 400 roles and CrowdStrike traces agentic attacks on Korean banks.

Financial Markets Weekly: ICE and OKX file to trade 63 tokenised US stocks, the CFTC seeks views on leveraged retail crypto trading, and UBS hands fund administration to Northern Trust.

Balaji Srinivasan and Polymarket founder Shayne Coplan described different ways to apply crypto infrastructure beyond digital assets, from online communities acquiring physical premises to prediction markets operating across regulated financial markets.

Cesar E.A. Virata, former prime minister and finance minister of the Philippines and a longstanding member of The Asian Banker’s community of advisers, died on 2 October at the age of 95. Over many years, we came to know him not principally through the offices he once held, but as a thoughtful, measured and enduring presence in Asian finance.

TAB Africa Weekly Brief: BCEAO mandates instant-payment interoperability, Zambia cuts rates 250 basis points and Attijariwafa bank agrees Société Générale Ghana deal.

Retail Finance Weekly: Australia's interchange cuts and surcharge ban shift card costs across issuers, merchants and consumers as Commonwealth Bank widens rewards and Apple Pay enters India via Axis Bank.

As AI reshapes banking execution and competitive models, Hong Leong Bank CEO Kevin Lam argues that the harder leadership task is building institutions that remain disciplined, trusted and strategically relevant.

As financial institutions connect to independently governed on-chain markets and applications, neutral shared infrastructure is needed to enable interoperability without compromising institutional control, privacy and governance.

Standardised data, artificial intelligence and more payment rails give banks greater optionality, but Natasha Lapierre argues that they create value only when systems can share information and switch seamlessly. Otherwise, modernisation risks replacing concentration with fragmentation.

TAB Middle East Weekly Brief: IMF expects GCC economy to contract in 2026 despite strong bank buffers, as Qatar links government debt to Euroclear and NEOPAY buys into noon payments.

Transaction Finance Weekly: Citi and Lloyds take cross-border payments beyond banking hours as HSBC and BMO move banking into client systems and IFC backs USD 1.5 billion of supply-chain finance.