Samantha Horton, group chief operating officer and head of international at Syfe, explained to FA some of the mechanics, challenges and attractions of the 2025 deal for the listed firm, and also future regional expansion plans.

Tonik is the first digital-only bank in the Philippines with a banking licence from the BSP. Ukraine's Diligent Capital Partners, which is leading the pre-Series C funding round, has backed founder Greg Krasnov before.

It is the group's largest public IABS issuance to date and its first in the Rule 144A/Reg S format with US onshore investors involved. Clifford Capital's group CEO told FA the deal "reflects the growing interest and appetite in infrastructure returns from institutional investors".

Banks and payment giants at the Singapore FinTech Festival warned about deepfakes, cyberattacks, and AI-driven fraud even as they push aggressively into agentic AI and design their firms around AI-native operating models. With risks rising, leaders said 2026 will force a balance between ambition and safeguards.

Blackstone has bought 9.9% of India’s Federal Bank and a stake in India’s Ace Insurance Brokers.

Bauhinia 3 has a portfolio of 33 project and infrastructure loans across 28 projects, 12 countries and nine sub-sectors, with a value of $450.5m. HKMC issued Class D notes at non-investment grade -- a first in Asia.

Prudential Financial is selling its 13% stake in the Hong Kong-headquartered reinsurer, which is majority owned by Chinese conglomerate Fosun.

The strongest storm of 2025 is causing widespread disruption in the region across Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Philippines, southern and eastern China, Macau and Vietnam.

An ambitious wave of Chinese entrepreneurs is changing the definition of Chinese private equity investment, as the market looks for a revival after a slow few years; Cheng sees opportunities across product personalisation, robotics and different geographies.

The rationale behind all the winners in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.