While global headlines fixate on cryptocurrency crashes and Silicon Valley’s AI arms race, a more profound transformation is unfolding across Asia’s telecommunications networks.
Key takeaways
Telecom operators are leveraging their 5.6 billion global subscribers and existing infrastructure to provide financial services to 1.4 billion unbanked adults, processing over USD 1.4 trillion in mobile money transactions annually.
The convergence creates a privacy dilemma where subscriber data enables financial inclusion through AI-driven credit scoring but also risks building surveillance-based financial systems without adequate regulatory oversight.
Asia’s financial future hinges on whether regulators mandate interoperability across telco-fintech platforms or allow fragmented monopolies, with initiatives like QRIS projected to reach AUD 1.3 trillion by 2030 serving as critical tests.
The convergence of fintech and telecom isn’t just another corporate buzzword. It’s a fundamental restructuring of how 4.5 billion people will access financial services in the coming decade.
The numbers tell a compelling story that traditional financial institutions should find deeply unsettling: mobile money platforms processed over USD 1.4 trillion globally in 2023, with Asia’s East Asia and Pacific region alone accounting for 428 million registered accounts. Yet this isn’t merely about transaction volume. It’s about telecom operators accomplishing what banks have failed to do for generations: reaching the financially invisible.
Key Players & Success Stories (2025–2026)
The landscape has shifted from simple “e-wallets” to sophisticated digital banks.
Market
Lead Player
Model
Status (2026)
Philippines
GCash (Globe)
Super-App
Now the primary financial tool for >80% of Filipinos; leading in “wallet-to-card” integration.
Singapore
GXS Bank (Grab + Singtel)
Digital Bank
Dominating the gig-economy segment with daily interest and seamless “eco-system” lending.
Malaysia
Boost (Axiata)
Digital Bank
Recently transitioned from a wallet to a full bank, focusing on SME micro-financing.
Thailand
TrueMoney (True Corp)
Payment Rail
Leading the charge in the Thai Ministry of Finance’s new virtual bank licenses (expected mid-20
The Infrastructure Advantage Banks Can’t Replicate
The genius of telco-led fintech lies not in technological sophistication, but in leveraging existing infrastructure asymmetries. Globe Telecom’s GCash in the Philippines serves 94 million users, more than the country’s entire adult population, because telecommunications operators solved the “last mile” problem decades ago. They already possess the distribution networks, customer relationships, and trust frameworks that challenger banks must build from scratch at ruinous cost.
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Consider the contrasting trajectories: while China’s traditional telecom revenue crawled forward at 0.7% in 2025, operators pivoted to financial services that capitalize on their 5.6 billion global mobile subscribers. This isn’t diversification born of strength. It’s survival instinct meeting structural opportunity. And the timing couldn’t be more fortuitous.
Financial Inclusion or Corporate Expansion? Perhaps Both
The World Bank’s figure of 1.4 billion unbanked adults globally sounds like a humanitarian crisis, and telcos have positioned themselves as the solution. Bangladesh’s bKash, scaled with Axiata Group’s backing, now serves over 70 million users in a country where traditional banking infrastructure remains sparse and geographically concentrated in urban centers.
Why Asia? (The Leapfrog Effect)
The reason telco-led fintech thrived in Asia while struggling in the US/Europe is the lack of legacy infrastructure.
Many Asian consumers skipped the “Credit Card/Physical Bank” phase and went straight from cash to smartphones. In 2026, mobile applications hold a staggering 72.6% of the fintech market share in the region.
But let’s be clear-eyed about motivations: telecom operators aren’t charitable institutions. They’re responding to existential threats like commoditized connectivity, margin compression, and infrastructure debt by extracting more value from existing customer relationships. That their commercial interests align with social goods like financial inclusion is fortunate coincidence, not altruistic design.
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The question isn’t whether telco-fintech advances inclusion (it demonstrably does), but whether these operators will become the new gatekeepers of financial access, replacing bank monopolies with telecom oligopolies. Early signs suggest concentration risks are real: a handful of operators are capturing dominant market shares in payments, lending, and insurance across multiple Southeast Asian markets.
The Data Dilemma: Enabler or Privacy Minefield?
Telecom operators’ “secret weapon,” granular subscriber data enabling alternative credit scoring, is simultaneously their greatest capability and biggest vulnerability. When operators use behavioral data to extend microloans to users lacking formal credit histories, they’re democratizing access. When that same data becomes fodder for surveillance capitalism, they’re building Orwellian financial ecosystems.
The Asian Development Bank’s enthusiasm for AI-driven credit assessment tools overlooks uncomfortable realities: these systems often perpetuate existing biases while creating new forms of algorithmic discrimination. A farmer in rural Vietnam denied credit by an opaque AI model has less recourse than one rejected by a human loan officer who must justify decisions.
As 5G networks expand (Ericsson forecasts 1.5 billion Asia Pacific subscriptions by 2030), the volume and granularity of monetizable data will explode. The regulatory frameworks governing this data remain woefully inadequate across most Asian jurisdictions. We’re building the financial nervous system of a digital economy on privacy foundations made of sand.
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Interoperability: The Test of Genuine Progress
The convergence of telecom and fintech now enters its most critical phase, defined not by individual platform success but by interoperability and cross-border integration. Initiatives like Project Nexus and Indonesia’s QRIS expansion (projected to reach AUD 1.3 trillion by 2030 across 30 million merchants) will determine whether we’re building an interconnected regional financial ecosystem or a fragmented patchwork of walled gardens.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: telecom operators have every commercial incentive to maintain proprietary ecosystems that lock in users and maximize data capture. True interoperability, where a GCash user seamlessly transacts with a bKash merchant across borders with minimal friction and transparent fees, undermines operator moats and commoditizes their platforms.
Yet without aggressive interoperability mandates, Asia risks replicating at regional scale the same fragmentation that stifled innovation in European payments for decades. Regulators must force operators to choose: become interoperable infrastructure layers supporting regional commerce, or remain siloed platforms serving narrow national markets.
The Coming Collision with Big Tech
Telecom operators currently enjoy first-mover advantages in fintech, but their dominance is hardly assured. Digital-native fintech firms operate with agile development models and superior customer experience strategies. More ominously, global technology giants with deeper pockets and more sophisticated AI capabilities are circling these markets.
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The competitive dynamics will intensify as platforms like Singapore’s Singtel (through GXS Bank) and India’s Reliance Jio (via Jio Financial Services) expand beyond national borders. Some operators will succeed in becoming regional digital banks. Others will be reduced to “dumb pipes” carrying transactions for fintech platforms that captured the customer relationship.
Success will require more than scale. It demands world-class cybersecurity, sophisticated fraud prevention, regulatory navigation across diverse jurisdictions, and customer experience excellence. Most telecom operators are telecommunications companies trying to become financial institutions. That transition is far harder than industry optimism suggests.
What’s Really at Stake
The telco-fintech convergence represents more than industry evolution. It’s a referendum on whether Asia will build inclusive, interoperable digital financial infrastructure or fragmented systems that replicate offline inequities in digital form.
If executed well, with appropriate regulatory oversight and genuine commitment to interoperability, telco-led fintech could accelerate financial inclusion, enable cross-border commerce, and provide millions of underserved consumers with access to credit, insurance, and wealth-building tools. The GSMA data showing 18% year-over-year growth in active mobile money accounts across East Asia and Pacific suggests this potential is being realized.
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If executed poorly, with inadequate privacy protections, monopolistic practices, and regulatory capture, we risk creating new forms of financial exclusion where algorithmic gatekeepers replace human ones, and vast populations become dependent on opaque platforms accountable to shareholders rather than users.
The next five years will be decisive. As digital adoption continues expanding at 4.9% annually across Asian markets, the architectural choices made today about interoperability, data governance, and competition policy will shape financial access for billions of people across multiple generations.
Telecom operators didn’t set out to revolutionize finance. They stumbled into it while searching for revenue growth beyond commoditized connectivity. But intent matters less than impact. And the impact of telco-led fintech on Asia’s economic future will be profound, for better or worse.
The question isn’t whether this revolution will happen. It’s already happening. The question is whether it will be inclusive or extractive, interoperable or fragmented, empowering or exploitative. Those outcomes aren’t predetermined. They depend on regulatory choices and competitive dynamics still being contested across Asian capitals.
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Traditional banks had decades to solve financial inclusion and failed. Telecom operators have been given a second chance. How they use it will define not just their industry’s future, but the economic prospects of billions of people across the world’s most dynamic region.
LOS ANGELES — Angelina Jolie skipped the 2026 Academy Awards earlier this month, a decision sources close to the actress described as unsurprising given no eligible projects and her shifting priorities away from Hollywood’s spotlight. The Oscar winner, who last attended the ceremony in 2024 for her directorial work, instead focused on personal transitions, including plans to relocate abroad later this year as her youngest children approach adulthood.
Jolie, 50, has been candid about feeling disconnected from the United States in recent interviews, stating she no longer “recognizes” the country due to changes in freedom of expression and social climate. Sources told People magazine in late 2025 that she is “excited” about moving overseas once custody arrangements with ex-husband Brad Pitt allow greater flexibility. Her twins, Knox and Vivienne, turn 18 in July 2026, potentially freeing her from Los Angeles residency requirements tied to the long-running divorce.
The actress listed her historic $25 million Cecil B. DeMille estate in Los Angeles for sale after renovations, with pre-qualified buyers touring the property. Plans call for splitting time between New York—home to her sustainable fashion venture Atelier Jolie—and Europe or Cambodia, where she holds citizenship and has deep humanitarian ties through her work with refugees.
Jolie’s humanitarian efforts remain central. Recent reports noted her visits to conflict zones, though specifics on 2026 activities were limited. Her UNHCR ambassadorship continues to drive advocacy, often drawing her away from entertainment circles.
Professionally, Jolie is in a transitional phase with new projects gaining traction. Her latest film, “Couture,” a fashion-world drama directed by Alice Winocour, was acquired by Vertical for North American theatrical release later in 2026 following its world premiere at TIFF in 2025. Jolie stars as Maxine, a filmmaker facing breast cancer who enters a romance during Paris Fashion Week chaos. The ensemble includes Louis Garrel, Ella Rumpf and newcomer Anyier Anei, exploring themes of women’s resilience, solidarity and shared struggles across cultures and professions.
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Rumors of a real-life romance between Jolie and co-star Garrel surfaced after public dinners, but sources close to the actress told TMZ on March 2 that the pair are not dating. “It’s strictly professional,” one insider said, emphasizing her focus on work and family post-divorce.
Jolie has not been in a relationship since finalizing her divorce from Pitt in December 2024 after an eight-year legal battle, according to a source cited by People. “She’s too busy focusing on her work and her six children,” the source said. “She hasn’t had a boyfriend.”
Family dynamics drew attention when eldest son Maddox dropped “Pitt” from his last name in credits for “Couture,” where he contributed to production. The move, reported in late February, fueled speculation about strained ties, with some Pitt associates claiming it reflected Jolie’s influence. Maddox, now in his 20s, has increasingly aligned with his mother’s projects.
The divorce settlement, reached after years of custody, property and winery disputes, has not fully quelled tensions. Brad Pitt is pushing to depose Russian businessman Yuri Shefler regarding dealings related to their French winery, Château Miraval, according to court documents obtained by TMZ on March 17. The ongoing litigation centers on ownership and sales rights, with Pitt seeking clarity on transactions involving the multimillion-dollar asset. Sources described Jolie as “mentally drained” by the protracted fight, which has spanned nearly a decade since their 2016 separation.
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Despite personal challenges, Jolie’s career shows momentum. She is reuniting with “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” director Doug Liman for an untitled spy thriller, signaling a return to high-profile acting. Additionally, “Sunny,” an action-thriller directed by Eva Sørhaug and inspired by mafia classics, is in production, marking her first action role in years after projects like “Eternals” and “The Eternals” in 2021.
Atelier Jolie continues to thrive as a platform for ethical fashion, blending Jolie’s advocacy with creative output. The New York-based collective emphasizes sustainability and artisan collaboration, reflecting her shift toward entrepreneurial and philanthropic endeavors over traditional stardom.
Jolie’s evolution from blockbuster star to multifaceted figure—actress, director, humanitarian and businesswoman—defines her 2026 chapter. Skipping awards season aligns with her preference for privacy and meaningful work amid life changes. As she prepares for potential relocation, upcoming releases like “Couture” and ongoing advocacy suggest she remains influential, even from afar.
With children growing independent and legal battles simmering, Jolie appears poised for a new era prioritizing global perspectives over Hollywood drama.
Dalal Street witnessed a sharp selloff on Thursday, led by a steep fall in HDFC Bank, India’s largest private lender. The share price plunged by up to 9%, erasing over Rs 1 lakh crore in market value in a single session and marking its worst single-day decline since March 2020.
The trigger was the resignation of part-time Chairman and independent director Atanu Chakraborty. In his letter, Chakraborty cited developments and practices at the bank over the past two years that did not align with his personal values and ethics. “This is the basis of my aforementioned decision,” he wrote.
He highlighted that his tenure coincided with key milestones, including the merger with HDFC, which transformed the institution into one of the largest financial conglomerates in the country. While he also noted that the full benefits of the merger are yet to materialise, the move cemented HDFC Bank’s position as the second-largest lender in India.
A near 9% fall in a heavyweight like HDFC Bank underscores the significance of the development and the influence of the individual at the centre of it. Here’s a closer look at Atanu Chakraborty.
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Atanu is a retired 1985-batch IAS officer from the Gujarat cadre, who served as the Economic Affairs Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Government of India, until his retirement in April 2020. He has also represented India as an alternate Governor on the World Bank Board and was a member of the Central Board of Directors of the Reserve Bank of India. His appointment as Union Economic Affairs Secretary was approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.
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He holds a BTech degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from the National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra. He further pursued a postgraduate diploma in Business Finance from ICFAI, Hyderabad, and completed his MBA from the University of Hull in the United Kingdom. HDFC Bank moved swiftly and appointed Keki Mistry, former CEO of HDFC, as interim part-time chairman with approval from the Reserve Bank of India. Following the development, the lender organised a conference call.
What did Keki Mistry say?
Addressing analysts a day after the surprise exit, interim chairman Keki Mistry said there was “no power struggle within the bank” and stressed that the board had not witnessed any kind of complete difference in opinion in its meetings.
“None of us is aware of the issues raised by Chakraborty in [his] letter,” Mistry said, adding that there had been no discussion regarding governance within the board.
Mistry added that the lender’s leadership remained aligned, dismissing suggestions of internal discord. The management team does and will continue to work cohesively, he said, adding that there has been no discussion regarding governance within the board.
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Mistry added, “I would never remain on the board if there were any governance issues,” while asserting that the institution remained “very, very strong on ethics.”
The interim chairman also sought to reassure investors and stakeholders, saying there were no material matters at this point in time and that the board remained committed to safeguarding investor confidence.
Mistry also emphasised that the resignation had no bearing on the bank’s business performance. “What happened yesterday has nothing to do with operational profitability,” he added.
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)
A version of this article first appeared in the CNBC Property Play newsletter with Diana Olick. Property Play covers new and evolving opportunities for the real estate investor, from individuals to venture capitalists, private equity funds, family offices, institutional investors and large public companies. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox. Barely four years after investors fled commercial real estate funds, due to fast-rising interest rates, some are now piling back in, as they rotate out of the once-hot private credit play . Investments in non-traded, publicly registered REITs went from $33.2 billion in 2022 to $5.7 billion in 2025, but gains in just the last few months are indicative of a turnaround. These REITs raised $593 million from investors in January, an increase from $467 million in December and $416 million in November, according to tracking from Stanger Investment Banking. Additional data from CoStar shows investments in non-traded REITs have seen gains over the third and fourth quarters of last year. Some expect that as more money comes out of private credit, it will end up in real estate. “We believe that will happen,” said Kevin Gannon, chairman and CEO of Stanger. “We’re starting to see signs of it in the fundraising starting to increase on the real estate side. It’s slower, but starting to increase. And the redemptions on the real estate side have subsided, and what’s going on now is there’s a rotation of capital.” When asked recently on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” if investment advisors might be taking clients out of Blackstone Private Credit (BCRED) and putting them into Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust (BREIT), the company’s President and Chief Operating Officer, Jonathan Gray, said, “I don’t know if that’s happening dollar for dollar, but when they get concerned about something, they may pause. I will tell you, interestingly, here in the first quarter, BREIT had its best inflows since 2022.” Commercial real estate values fell 22% from their peak in April 2022 to their trough in December 2023, according to Green Street’s Commercial Property Price Index. They are still seeing a somewhat slow, U-shaped recovery, making the entry point for investors still pretty attractive. As volatility in the stock market increases due to global economic pressures from tariffs and now the war in Iran, hard assets like real estate offer a compelling way to diversify portfolios. As for the sectors that might benefit, Blackstone has done a few specific office deals, but remains focused on data centers, industrials and multifamily, preferring the stability and income of these sectors, according to a person familiar with Blackstone’s internal operations, who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter. “At the end of the day, it’s about yield. If investors continue to pull from private credit funds, it’s hard to replace that yield in other debt investments,” said Willy Walker, CEO of Walker & Dunlop. “Blackstone had its first positive month of fund flows into the BREIT in February for the first time in four years. Private credit funds dwarf CRE debt funds — trillions versus billions — so any move out of private credit could have a material impact on CRE funds.” And the conversation appears to be heating up quickly, as headlines about redemptions from private credit spread. “I was, yesterday, in a meeting with a couple of very large investors here in New York, and we were debating exactly that topic,” said Christian Ulbrich, president and CEO of JLL, during a March 12 taping of the CNBC Property Play podcast, set to be released next week. “Real assets are coming across as incredibly attractive in an environment of uncertainty we are currently in, and that private credit situation is literally driving people more into the real assets. So yes, potentially, that could be something where real estate or real assets are beneficiaries.” Ulbrich added the caveat that investors would still take the most conservative routes in the newly volatile interest rate environment. That means the best buildings in the best locations, including high-quality office buildings but also logistics facilities, warehouses and multifamily. Interest rates continue to be the wild card, as the expectation had been that they would be much lower by now. Expectations for Federal Reserve interest rate cuts are dropping on concern over energy prices and inflation. This could make the rotation into real estate slower than it might have been otherwise. “We’ve been living through this anomaly,” said Gannon. “It’s lasted way longer than we thought, and now it’s going to be a little longer, perhaps, because of the war. But we think ultimately that money will look for a home, and we’ll look to put that money into real estate if we can show real estate pricing stabilizing.”
However, the ONS said the estimates need to be treated with caution
11:59, 19 Mar 2026Updated 12:00, 19 Mar 2026
Wales has seen a fall in unemployment.(Image: PA)
Unemployment in Wales has fallen well below the level for the UK as a whole, although economic inactivity remains a sticky issue,
Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show that from November to January the unemployment rate felll on the previous quarter by 2.6% to 3.5%. For the UK as a whole unemployment was up 0.1% to 5.2%.
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However, the ONS says that increased volatility in its Labour Force Survey, as a result of small sample sizes, means that estimates of changes should be treated with “additional caution.” The Welsh Government, while the latest figures are relatively favourable for Wales, said due to their reliability they rely more on the Annual Population Survey, which shows unemployed in Wales at 4,5%, slightly above the UK level.
The latest ONS figures show that in England the unemployment in the three months to end of January was 5.4%, Scotland 3.9% and Northern Ireland 2.2%. The highest rate amongst the UK’ nations and regions was London, 7.9% followed by the north east, 7.1%.
The number of people unemployed in Wales was 54,000, down 40,000 on August to October, 2025. For the UK as a whole it was up 37,000 to 1.86 million.
The employment rate in Wales was 71.9%, below the UK as a whole at 75.1%. Of the UK nations and region the employment rate was only lower than Wales in Northern Ireland at 71.6%. Wales also had the second highest economic inactivity level at 25.54% (496,000 people). Only in Northern Ireland, at 26.7%, was it higher. For the UK as whole economic activity levle was 20.7%.
For the UK as a whole, youth unemployment shot up to 14.5% for 18 to 24-year-olds in the latest period, reaching the highest level since early 2015, though the rate fell for 16 and 17-year-olds, to 29.3%.
But the overall jobless rate was lower than expected, with most economists having forecast a rise to 5.3%, while there was also a 20,000 estimated increase in workers on payrolls last month.
ONS director of economic Statistics Liz McKeown said: “Labour market conditions were little changed at the start of the year. The number of workers on payroll rose slightly in the latest month but, overall, the recent picture has been broadly flat. Unemployment remains at the rate reported last month, up on the quarter and the year, while the number of vacancies remains largely stable, with declines among smaller firms being offset by rises among larger ones.
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Regular wage growth is at its lowest rate in more than five years, with pay growth in both the private and public sectors continuing to ease.”
A spokesman for the Welsh Government said: “Evidence from a range of sources suggest the labour market in Wales has followed similar trends to the UK since the pandemic. Latest figures from the Annual Population Survey (APS) show the unemployment rate for people aged 16 and over in Wales was 4.5% compared to the UK rate of 4.2%. It also shows Wales’ employment rate is relatively close to the all-time high.
“We have rolled our sleeves up to deliver for businesses, communities, and thousands of workers across Wales as we build a stronger, fairer, and greener economy – supporting more than 50,000 jobs this Senedd term through business programmes.
“As we’ve said before, we’re quoting the Annual Population Survey because of concerns about the reliability of Labour Force Survey data. In fact, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) itself advises caution when taking these statistics as the only measure of the labour market in Wales. For greater accuracy it is recommended that a range of sources are used, while the ONS develops a new survey.”
After strong 2025 multibagger gains, several small-cap stocks corrected 10–30% in early 2026 amid global uncertainties, geopolitical tensions, and rising crude prices, highlighting their high-risk, high-reward nature for investors.
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