The Asian Banker Weekly Brief: Investors are questioning whether AI infrastructure spending can deliver lasting returns, as funding conditions diverge across the companies building it and credit access draws scrutiny.

Sustainable Finance Weekly: Nature-risk reporting and carbon-price benchmarks are sharpening transition planning, but emerging-market sustainable-bond issuance fell 32% while advanced markets grew.

Financial Technology Weekly: Crédit Agricole expands AI agents and Santander reports lower model costs, while a Google Cloud London outage exposes banks’ shared infrastructure risks.

Research into autonomous AI and a demonstration of manipulated facial video exposed different challenges for banks during the third day of The Asian Banker Beijing AI Innovation Study Tour 2026. BAAI examined model evaluation and embodied intelligence, while Tencent showed how digital identity checks can be compromised and where additional controls may help.

TAB China Weekly Brief: The People's Bank of China outlines reforms to its policy-rate framework, corporate loan pricing and liquidity support, alongside plans to connect bond markets and widen offshore clearing banks’ access to onshore trading.

Bank of the Philippine Islands has named consumer banking chief Maria Cristina “Ginbee” Go as its next president and CEO, succeeding TG Limcaoco on 26 April 2027, subject to regulatory approvals. The transition follows five years of digital, financial inclusion and sustainability initiatives under Limcaoco, with Go set to lead the bank’s next phase of growth.

Financial Markets Weekly: Transaction Finance Weekly: Tokenisation enters core infrastructure as DTCC readies onboarding, Bank Negara Malaysia launches SSDS+ and issuers resist tokenised stock plans.

TAB Africa Weekly Brief: South Africa sets a November deadline for its payments authorisation framework as Banque du Caire opens IPO subscriptions and Nedbank advances its NCBA acquisition.

Retail Finance Weekly: Capital One shifts card spending to Discover’s network, UK proposes opening iPhone contactless payments and GCash parent Mynt lists.

ByteDance, Xiaomi and Ant Group are applying AI to different parts of their commercial ecosystems, from content distribution and connected devices to financial identity and advisory services. The second day of The Asian Banker Beijing AI Innovation Study Tour 2026 examined the implications for banks seeking better customer acquisition, richer transaction information and more scalable financial services.

The opening day of The Asian Banker Beijing AI Innovation Study Tour 2026 examined two challenges in deploying AI across banking: making enterprise data available for timely decisions and securing digital customer interactions. China Construction Bank presented its real-time data warehouse and Digital Brain, while MEGVII demonstrated biometric verification and defences against manipulated identities.

TAB Middle East Weekly Brief: Emirates NBD deploys OpenAI onshore, Dubai Investments plans DIP Holding flotation and Gulf bank profits diverge.

CIMB is building its wealth strategy around longstanding local customer relationships across its core ASEAN markets. Its opportunity is to deepen those relationships through advice, connect customers' personal and business needs across borders, and extend them across generations.

Animoca Brands’ Evan Auyang sees regulated stablecoins connecting Hong Kong’s capital markets to global blockchain liquidity, but tokenised deposits and central bank money offer alternative settlement instruments.

Risk and Capital Weekly Brief: Basel averages systemic bank indicators year-round; Yes Bank’s court ruling and Nordea’s ECB review weigh on bank capital.