Hi fintech friends, I'm Osborne, investor in early stage startups.

Please enjoy all the news and updates from the past week in today’s edition. If you feel TWIF brings you value, please share it with your friends (and maybe suggest they subscribe too).

Help us deliver more value! Please take 2 minutes to complete this quick survey about your fintech interests and preferences. Your feedback will directly shape our newsletter content and upcoming events to better serve professionals like you across Asia's dynamic fintech landscape.

Are you considering starting up? I’d love to help. DM me here: superdm.me/osborne

🧐🏆 Posts of the Week

(Note: Neither TWIF nor I endorse any views in the tweets highlighted above.)

📈 Charts of the Week

🌁 Image of the Week

🇮🇳 India

📰 Market Updates

1. The Indian tech ecosystem raised $7.4Bn +23% YoY in funding in 2024, according to the latest Nasscom-Zinnov report.
2. India reports record $129Bn in remittances sent home by overseas Indians in 2024, with $36Bn remitted in Dec, 2024 alone.
3. Unified Payments Interface (UPI) recorded $290Bn in transaction value in March, 2024 growing 25% YoY.
4. NPCI introduced new guidelines for UPI apps to resolve issues related to unused or reassigned mobile numbers and improve user trust and operating efficiency.
5. India's venture debt market grew at a CAGR of 58% during 2018 to 2024 to reach $1.23Bn last year.
6. India's Enforcement Directorate (ED) seized INR 303cr ($35.6M) from PYYPL, UAE-based crypto exchange.
7. NPCI, which operates UPI, reported intermittent UPI transaction rejections due to financial year closing activities by banks.
8. Indian banks disbursed INR15.3 lakh crore ($179Bn) in fresh loans over 11 months (till Feb 2025), with personal loans accounting for 36%, services sector for 30%, and housing loans for 17%.
9. Microfinance sector's loan disbursement amount reduced by 35% to INR 63,440cr ($7.4Bn) while default rates grew to 6.4%.
10. Consumer spending through credit cards reduced to an eight-month low of INR 1.67 lakh crore ($20Bn) in Feb 2025
11. Loan growth of various banks (Q4 FY25, ended Mar, 2025):
    • Union Bank of India reported 8.6% QoQ loan growth to Rs 9.82 lakh crore ($115Bn).
    • Bank of Baroda reported 12.8% QoQ loan growth to INR 12.3 lakh crore ($144Bn).
    • HDFC Bank reported 4% QoQ loan growth to INR 26.4 lakh crore ($309Bn).
    • Punjab National Bank reported 13.6% QoQ loan growth to INR 11.2 lakh crore ($131Bn).
    • South Indian Bank reported 10% QoQ loan growth to INR 88.5K crore ($10bn).

🚀 Product Launches

1. Junio, a student fintech startup, received RBI approval to operate as a non-bank lender and launched education finance products.

📝 Regulatory Updates

1. SEBI (securities regulator): Launched a Document Number Verification System (DNVS) to enable investors to verify the genuineness of regulatory documents filed with SEBI.
2. RBI (central bank): Introduced revised guidelines for non-bank financing companies. Issued a letter of "displeasure" to Bajaj Finance, citing the failure of the NBFC to identify potential risks to customers in its co-branded credit card business.

💰 Financing Announcements

1. Scapia, a travel finance startup, raised $40M.
2. Infinity Fincorp, a loan against property company, raised $40M.
3. Aerem, a solar financing startup, raised $12M.
4. Protectt.ai, a fraud management and cyber security startup, raised $9M.
5. Folo, a net worth tracking startup, raised $1.2M.

ACQUISITION:

1. First Data, Netherlands is acquiring 19% in ICICI Merchant Services Ltd.

1-min Anonymous Feedback: Your feedback helps me improve this newsletter. Click UPVOTE 👍🏽 or DOWNVOTE 👎🏽

🌏 Asia

📰 Market Updates

1. Igloo, an Indonesian insurance startup, formed a JV with JMT Network Services, a Thai conglomerate, to launch insurance products for the Thai market.
2. The Government of Pakistan launched a $72M digital payments initiative to boost financial inclusion in the country.
3. Philippines had 29M users, a 40% YoY increase, in Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) users at the end of 2024, according to a report.
4. Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) directed fintech platforms to clearly communicate the underlying products and investment accounts they provide, according to sources.
5. The MAS released a consultation paper proposing a regulatory framework to expand retail investors' access to private market investment funds.
6. Mastercard introduced a new program to simplify the way banks and platform providers integrate Mastercard's virtual card technology.
7. Sony Electronics Singapore partnered with Crypto.com to accept USDC payments on Sony Store Online.
8. Aspire, a Singapore-based small business banking startup, secured a Capital Markets Services (CMS) license from the MAS to operate a retail fund management business.
9. MariBank, a Singapore-based digital bank, launched cross-border remittance services for retail and SME users.
10. A consortium of central banks (India, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand) has formally established Nexus Global Payments (NGP) in Singapore to manage a new multilateral cross-border payment system.
11. Ripple launched its US dollar-backed stablecoin, RLUSD, to its Ripple Payments platform to support enterprise cross-border transactions using the digital asset.
12. In Asia, personalized investment strategies, enabled by tokenization, represent a $3.3Tn market opportunity for asset managers, according to a report by HSBC.
13. Arta Finance, a Singapore-based wealth platform, introduced Arta AI - a suite of AI agents to analyze portfolios, explore investment ideas, and access financial insights on demand.
14. Airwallex, a cross border payments startup, partnered with Yuno, a virtual card platform, to launch virtual corporate cards in Asia Pacific (APAC), allowing businesses to issue virtual cards within minutes.
15. Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) partnered with Fujitsu to launch an AI-powered data analytics business.
16. Financial institutions globally spent $44Bn (+6.4% YoY) on market data and analysis in 2024, growing 5.1% year-over-year.
17. Visa launched an AI-based fraud prevention tool designed to help merchants and financial institutions identify and prevent fraudulent transactions more effectively.

💰 Financing Announcements

1. Higala, a Philippines-based open banking and payments startup, raised $3M.

🌏 Sponsor on TWIF

Mail us at sponsor@thisweekinfintech.com

If you’ve made it this far - thanks! As always, you can always reach me at osborne@thisweekinfintech.com. I’d genuinely appreciate any and all feedback. If you liked what you read, please consider sharing or subscribing.

1-min Anonymous Feedback: Your feedback helps me improve this newsletter. Click UPVOTE 👍🏽 or DOWNVOTE 👎🏽

Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn