Following the success of the Singles' Day, Alibaba has ventured on another e-commerce event dubbed as 12.12, first introduced in 2013. The company has taken advantage of these shopping festivals to push its online presence amidst a strong competition within the e-commerce market.

Digitisation in the cross-border money transfer industry might leave fewer opportunities for incumbent banks and operators to grow. How they cultivate alliances and digital innovation to stay ahead of competitive will be critical moving forward.

The combination of slowing global economic growth, record low interest rates, increasing costs of regulatory compliance, and pace of financial disruption that demands greater investments is making many transaction banks relook their business propositions and operating models.

Alibaba's Singles' Day has surpassed global records for e-commerce sales, taking a total of $17.8 billion this year. However, there are concerns whether the one-day event held every 11th November can sustain its large growth in the coming years.

Tharman Shanmugaratnam, deputy prime minister and chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, spoke about the critical factors that will drive the success of fintech during the Singapore Fintech Awards 2016.

New proofs of concepts have emerged in blockchain as the industry tackles various impediments to its successful adoption. The technology initiatives would need to be complemented with stronger collaborative efforts and interoperability for future growth.

Ravi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, talks about the general principles guiding the regulator towards the creation of a Smart Financial Centre during the Singapore Fintech Festival - Fintech Conference 2016

Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, has announced the demonitisation of high currency notes as part of a revolutionary move to curb the proliferation of illegal money in the local market. The action aims to improve tax collections and economic growth in the country.

Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Singapore's deputy prime minister and chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, at the launch of LATTICE80, spoke about how the country is developing a fintech ecosystem, including the venture capital sector that will allow start-ups to thrive.

Piyush Gupta, chief executive officer of DBS Singapore, received the highest remuneration among bank CEOs in the Asia Pacific region in 2016, while top executives of many Chinese banks had high reductions in their compensations.

Increasing adoption of digital payments has resulted in stiff competition within the industry. Non-bank payment players have become more aggressive, aiming to grow into full scale financial service providers.

Wide discontent with conventional banks have led to the emergence of mobile-only fintech banks. However, these challenger banks are struggling to expand their customer reach, putting doubts whether they can stand against bigger traditional banks.

As the financial services industry embraces digital transformation, it faces new cyber security challenges that require banks to adopt a holistic cyber security framework.

Competition is forcing banks to improve the digital experience of their customers. Banks are focused on investing in mobile technologies, data analytics, security and cloud computing.

Wells Fargo is under scrutiny for unauthorised cross-selling and the creation of fake accounts. But was the controversy overblown?