Europe's on-chain euro challenge is no longer whether a regulated token can be issued, but whether enough banks and counterparties can make it liquid enough to matter. Qivalis, backed by 37 European banks, is testing whether commercial-bank network density can become Europe's answer to dollar stablecoin dominance.

Banks overcame the robo-adviser challenge by retaining control of the client relationship. The next battleground is the financial conversation itself, as AI platforms become the primary interface through which customers seek advice, interpret information and make decisions.

The 2026 ranking highlights how Gulf and African banks are pursuing different strategies to strengthen their corporate and wholesale franchises, with digital capability, regional connectivity, capital markets expertise and disciplined financial performance emerging as key competitive differentiators.

As the cost of replacing card and payments systems collides with the cost of carrying them forward, the modernisation question is shifting from whether to rebuild towards how much further existing infrastructure can be extended.

Avo Insurance became Hong Kong's first virtual general insurer in 2019 under the Insurance Authority's Fast Track scheme. Seven years on, as four virtual insurers compete against more than 150 traditional carriers, the question is whether product speed, B2B2C distribution and its parent Asia Insurance's regional network can become structural advantages.

The Bank of England's latest proposals to make elements of the capital framework more usable appear to be technical refinements to banking regulation. Read alongside its latest assessment of financial stability risks, however, they raise a broader question: whether the post-2008 regulatory settlement is still preparing the financial system for the right crisis.

Vietcombank is expanding its wholesale and cross-border banking operations through a platform-led approach that seamlessly embeds payments, trade and treasury services into corporate workflows. The bank serves both domestic corporates and foreign enterprises expanding across Vietnam’s economy.

CBDCs, stablecoins and tokenised deposits are moving past the pilot stage, forcing banks to pick a lane before standards settle. Executives from ZA Bank, Circle, J.P. Morgan and Wavpay unpack the trust, interoperability and regulatory gaps still standing between experimentation and scale.

Chong Wee Yeat, Head of Global Banking at Maybank Singapore is positioning the bank’s Malaysia-Singapore corridor depth as a route to wider ASEAN client coverage, as supply chain shifts, Chinese corporate expansion and the JS-SEZ create new cross-border banking demand.

With the July 2026 deadline for US agencies to finalise the implementation of the GENIUS Act approaching, we examine five of the world’s most consequential stablecoin regimes, the United States, United Kingdom, Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan. While these jurisdictions have largely aligned on what constitutes stablecoin, none has yet delivered a commercially scalable market. The real contest has shifted to access, distribution, commercial viability and control—factors that will determine who builds the next generation of payment infrastructure.

Recognitions across six categories of the TAB Global Excellence in Retail Finance Awards 2026 reflect a business model built around affluent-led growth, hybrid engagement and platform-driven innovation.

Vietnam's Techcombank has spent five years separating decision intelligence from operational systems to build a platform capable of scaling without adding proportionate headcount. Jens Lottner, chief executive officer of Techcombank, discusses the bank's AI architecture, governance approach and the commercial opportunities it is beginning to unlock.

Bank of China (Hong Kong), assessed by TAB Global as the best retail bank in the world, Asia Pacific, and Hong Kong for 2026, offers a compelling example of how retail banking leadership is evolving beyond excellence in individual product lines, placing a greater emphasis on how effectively institutions organise capabilities around changing customer behaviour.

Banks are moving beyond replacement-led modernisation towards a broader redesign of architecture, operating models and resilience capabilities. The challenge is no longer whether to modernise, but how to modernise continuously without destabilising the institution.

New B2B cross-border payment rails are outpacing traditional correspondent banking on speed, predictability, and transparency. Corporate treasuries increasingly prefer these new rails, while banks anchored in legacy infrastructure face structural revenue pressures, with even modest margin shifts threatening billions in annual income.