China’s Lending Benchmark Stability Prompts Asian Markets Growth
Trading in leading Asia markets accelerated following the PBoC’s Monday decision to keep the benchmark loan rates unchanged for the 11th consecutive month.
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Governments Are Betting Big on AI and Britain Just Joined the Race With £500 Million Sovereign Fund
From London to Riyadh, states are no longer leaving artificial intelligence entirely to the private sector. Sovereign funds focused on AI infrastructure are becoming the new black and UK is now on trend.
Payment News Digest: Infrastructure, Control & Scale in Focus
The global payments landscape continues to evolve rapidly, with new launches and updates from Xero, Checkout.com, Paysend and more highlighting a clear shift toward merchant empowerment, regional sovereignty, and cross-border infrastructure upgrades.
Chinese Consumers Can Now Use the Qwen App to Hail Rides and Pay with Alipay AI Pay
China’s fast-evolving digital ecosystem is entering a new phase of “agentic commerce,” where artificial intelligence doesn’t just recommend actions but completes them. A key example is the integration of Alibaba’s AI assistant, the Qwen App, with the country’s dominant payments platform, Alipay, enabling users to book services like rides and pay seamlessly within a single […]
Global Fintech Shifts Into High Gear: Mastercard Bridges China, Airwallex Bets Big on Europe
Two landmark expansions from Mastercard and Airwallex signal a new era for cross-border B2B payments: one deepening China’s financial corridors, the other mounting a billion-dollar advance on European incumbents.
SUNRATE Renames China Unit to SUNRATE Pay to Strengthen Cross-Border Payments Expansion
Global fintech platform SUNRATE has officially renamed its China-licensed entity to SUNRATE Pay Co., Ltd., marking a new stage in the company’s strategic expansion into the Chinese payments market and reinforcing its focus on compliant cross-border financial services.
Ant Group’s Alipay AI Pay and AI Health App AQ Each Surpass 100 Million Users During CNY Highlighting AI Adoption Growth in China
As AI adoption gained momentum during the 2026 Chinese New Year, Ant Group announced that both Alipay AI Pay and its AI health app AQ have each surpassed the 100 million user milestone.
Alipay AI Payment Exceeds 120M Transactions a Week as Agentic Commerce Accelerates in China
Alipay has just announced that its AI Pay payment solution, enabling secure and seamless transactions between AI agents, exceeded 120 million transactions in the past week, as agentic commerce volume surges in China.
Global Gold Demand Hits Record, While Major Jewellery Markets Slump
Global gold demand hits record high in 2025 despite falling jewellery consumption: paradox explained.
Thunes and UnionPay International Boost Instant Cross-Border Transfers to China
Global money transfer platform Thunes and UnionPay International have launched a direct payment connection enabling faster transfers into China’s mainland, supporting real-time or near-real-time crediting to UnionPay debit cards.
HSBC Forecasts Slower Asia GDP Growth in 2026 as Export Demand and AI Risks Weigh
HSBC’s latest regional economic forecast projects that GDP growth in the Asia ex-Japan region will moderate to around 4.5% in 2026, down from an estimated 4.9% expansion in 2025, with slower activity anticipated across several major economies. This outlook reflects concerns about weakening export demand and uncertainties around the contribution of artificial intelligence (AI)-related investment […]
Ant Group’s AI Health Service AQ Upgrades PC Platform with DeepSearch for Evidence-Based Clinical Decision Support
The AQ PC platform by Ant Group now offers two main AI functions for medical professionals: Health Q&A and DeepSearch. Together, these tools assist with medical literature search, clinical practice, and research, helping reduce daily workload and improve access to reliable medical information.
Alipay Launches Open Agentic Commerce Protocol with Qwen App and Taobao Instant Commerce
Alipay has launched the Agentic Commerce Trust Protocol in collaboration with several partners, including Alibaba’s own consumer-facing AI application Qwen App, Taobao Instant Commerce, Rokid, Damai, and Alibaba Cloud’s Bailian platform.
Tech Firms Call For Open-Source AI Collaboration, With Chinese Companies as Leading Advocates
CES 2026 witnessed an increasing push for global cross-industry collaboration around open-source AI models. Chinese tech companies, like Alibaba or Deepseek, were notably primary advocates for such cooperation mechanisms.
Alipay Tap! Surpasses 100 Million Daily Transactions Milestone
Alipay’s Tap! contactless payment service now processes more than 100 million daily transactions, underlining the fast-growing embrace of tap-to-pay and QR-based solutions in China and across Asia.
China to Host ITU World Radiocommunication Conference 2027 in Shanghai
WRC-27 will shape the future of radiocommunication services on Earth and in space
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