As Timor-Leste looks to join ASEAN in October 2025, BNCTL under its new CEO, Marcelo da Cruz Carvalho, outlines its strategic transformation to support financial inclusion, digitisation and cross-border cooperation.

Private wealth is surging across Asia, but most of it remains idle despite rising social needs. AVPN’s ImpactCollab platform aims to integrate philanthropy into wealth management conversations by offering a structured, data-informed environment for giving.

Professor He Ping of Tsinghua University explains why China must resist short-term stimulus, reform its regulatory system and innovate responsibly to support long-term economic transformation, while guarding against systemic risks and global shocks such as the devaluation of the dollar.

At the 2025 The Asian Banker Future of Finance China Summit, held on 26 June in Beijing, five distinguished keynote speakers from academia, government and international organisations addressed a world in flux.

Senior banking and payments leaders in Hong Kong gathered at a roundtable discussion to examine how the financial services industry can navigate the new landscape of cross-border payments.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Asia) [ICBC (Asia)] and Bank of China (Hong Kong) [BOCHK] received recognitions for their outstanding performance and excellence in the asset custody services and wealth management businesses, respectively.

Given the US administration's shifting tariff policies, many global manufacturers may feel apprehensive about their growth prospects. Uncertainty in trade dynamics often affects firms reliant on global trade flows. But in Wenzhou, one of China's most fertile entrepreneurial hubs, businesses transform US tariff pressures into opportunities, ensuring enterprises thrive across generations.

Luong Tuan Thanh, CIO of Orient Commercial Bank (OCB), shares how the bank is deepening digitalisation and sustainability by rethinking core architecture, enabling agile product delivery, and focusing on high-value customer segments.

With one of the largest small business loan books in the Philippines, BPI is reimagining business banking for small enterprises by investing in digital onboarding, capacity building and inclusive financial ecosystems.

FIS and Episode Six have partnered to launch the FIS International Issuing Hub, a modular and API-first cloud-native solution designed to accelerate innovation in card issuing. Built for global scalability and speed, the platform enables banks and fintechs to modernise payments infrastructure without replacing legacy systems.

RCBC's head of retail banking, Richard Lim, outlines the bank's strategy for growth through branch-led distribution, cross-selling and data-driven customer engagement, while navigating structural challenges in digital transformation.

SB Finance is expanding financial access among underserved Filipino workers through its motorcycle loan product named MotorsikLOAN, and its financial literacy campaign, combining speed, digital innovation, and education in its customer-centric approach.

Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) is implementing a proprietary generative AI platform to transform employee productivity and prepare for future customer-facing innovations. Ginbee Go, head of consumer banking, shares how BPI is building secure, responsible AI capabilities at scale while nurturing a transformation-ready culture.

UnionBank of the Philippines is redefining digital consumer banking with a strategy built on ecosystem partnerships, AI-led decisioning, providing a full-suite of retail banking product proposition. Head of consumer banking Manoj Varma discusses how the bank is scaling customer acquisition, deepening engagement, and enhancing profitability while maintaining digital leadership.

At the Temenos Regional Forum Asia Pacific in Manila, Chi Li’s keynote and a panel discussion with Frankie Wai, Foo Boon Ping and Neil Tan examined how banks are approaching AI adoption with increasing caution, embedding governance from the start and pursuing more integrated operating models that connect capabilities across the enterprise.