Ping An Bank leverages AI to strengthen core retail and transaction capabilities, driving innovation, efficiency and improved customer experience across operations.

Banks can turn financial knowledge into their strongest defence against scams, debt and digital exploitation.

Over a decade of cheap liquidity shaped the global financial landscape after the Global Financial Crisis. As the world transitions from abundant to selective capital, supply chain finance is being redefined by costed liquidity, data transparency and multi-funder collaboration. The question is no longer whether liquidity exists—but where it will come from, and how trusted data will determine its flow.

United Bank for Africa (UBA) is deepening its pan-African presence through digital innovation and strategic diversification. Shamsideen Fashola, head of retail and digital banking for UBA described how the bank is embedding artificial intelligence, real-time payments, and customer-centric platforms with a view to balance financial inclusion with premium digital experiences.

As Asia Pacific’s trade and payment flows accelerate, leading banks in the region are embedding finance into client ecosystems, orchestrating modular platforms and scaling AI for resilient, sustainable growth.

UOB’s FDI Advisory Unit aims to become a partner for corporates expanding across ASEAN, and today, the focus has deepened from countries into economic corridors. Jimmy Koh, managing director and head of network partnerships and strategic marketing explains how the bank is helping corporates navigate new project pipelines in the region.

As global supply chains shift, ASEAN is emerging as a key hub for trade. UOB's Wee Ee Cheong and Frederick Chin discusss how investment and innovation, shaped by cooperation, technology and sustainability, will define the region’s next phase of integration and growth.

At Sibos Frankfurt 2025, Franck Dubois, head of Asia Pacific for Securities Services at BNP Paribas, highlighted how globalisation, private capital growth and technology shift are reshaping custody and settlement. He explained how the bank is helping clients’ transition to shorter settlement cycles, automate private markets and maintain trust and operational resilience.

David Katz, vice president of strategy and policy for Asia Pacific at Circle, discussed how emerging regulations and public–private collaboration are defining the role of USDC in regulated finance and driving the development of institutional stablecoin infrastructure.

At a closed-door briefing hosted by TAB Global and Red Hat in Singapore, industry leaders examined how artificial intelligence is redefining the architecture of operational resilience and the foundations of trust in an always-on financial ecosystem.

Through a digital-first strategy focused on SMEs and agriculture, the Bank of Punjab (BOP) is reshaping access to finance in Pakistan’s underserved markets. Its next phase of growth hinges on disciplined risk management, operational resilience and a customer-centric balance between innovation and inclusion.

Across Asia’s rapidly evolving digital-banking landscape, embedded finance is emerging as a structural advantage. Smriti Gupta, chief financial officer of audax, explains how this model lowers cost-to-serve and drives profitable, compliant scale for banks.

At Sibos Frankfurt 2025, Manish Joshi, managing director for Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa at Finastra’s lending business, explained how the firm’s new Trade Innovation Nexus layer addresses interoperability challenges, reduces paper and fraud risk, and embeds AI and cloud readiness into trade finance platforms.

Zodia Custody, backed by Standard Chartered and Northern Trust, is embedding bank-grade governance and compliance into digital-asset infrastructure. At TOKEN2049 Singapore, Deborah Algeo outlines how regulation and market confidence are driving institutional adoption.

At Sibos Frankfurt 2025, Fabian Khoshbakht, Head of Treasury Services for Asia Pacific at BNY, discussed how the bank is enabling faster and richer cross-border payments, approaching stablecoins and distributed ledgers, and using artificial intelligence to transform service delivery in Asia Pacific.