Hello fintech friends,

Hope you are having a great week so far. Are you ready for the much anticipated NY Fintech Week next week? TWIF is hosting a few events (I added them in the below), and we're excited to have you there!

Monday, April 21

• NYC Fintech Coffee
• NYFW Kickoff with Method and Cambr
• The Founders Table with Wilson Sonsini and Glade Brook

Tuesday, April 22

• Fintech Breakfast & Wellness Lounge with Flourish Ventures, Unit, Brico, and Spade
• Cross-Border, Banking and B2B Live Podcast with PingPong
• Powering the Next Wave of Cards & Payments with Brim, SVB, Mastercard

Thursday, April 24

• Fintech Reads with MX

And now, let’s dive into this week’s fintech news update.

Licensing & Regulations

• Binance is reportedly seeking to remove US regulatory oversight, aiming to ease compliance burdens and regain more control over its operations.
• China is considering opening its $520 billion ETF market to Western market makers, potentially inviting more foreign participation and liquidity.
• Hong Kong regulators aim to attract US-listed mainland companies for dual/secondary listings.
• Hong Kong's SFC approved Ethereum staking services for licensed crypto exchanges HashKey and OSL.
• DBS and Bank of China were recently targeted by ransomware attacks, highlighting ongoing cybersecurity challenges in the banking sector.

Financing

• Shein clears UK regulatory hurdle for London IPO but still waiting for China's go-ahead.
• JD.com plans to invest 200 billion yuan ($27.35 billion) to help exporters pivot towards the domestic market amid ongoing trade tensions.
• eToro has added all HKEX-listed stocks and exchange-traded products to its platform, expanding investment options for retail traders.

Product & Partnership Launches

• Acadia has expanded into China with its first securities client.
• Stripe now supports WeChat Pay, making it easier for merchants to accept payments through one of China’s most popular platforms.
• Ant Group's WorldFirst launched an SME card aimed at simplifying payments for small and medium-sized enterprises.
• PingPong has partnered with Trulioo to automate business verification and watchlist screening, reducing manual onboarding and ensuring compliance with KYB and AML regulations across regions.
• Adobe teamed up with Ant Group's Antom in Hong Kong to to offer better payment experiences for Adobe customers across Asia.

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