The “Asia‑Pacific Cyber Safety Landscape 2026” by bolttech highlights unique vulnerabilities faced by seniors and teenagers: two groups that often sit at opposite ends of the digital experience spectrum but share similar risks. The report’s findings, including that more than half of respondents doubt seniors (55+) can detect scams and that many worry teens “click too fast”, drive urgent calls for tailored education, community support, and policy action across Southeast Asia and the broader Asia‑Pacific region.

Why seniors are at greater risk — Southeast Asian context

Across Southeast Asia, seniors face particular challenges that magnify the general trends described in the bolttech report:

Also Read: APAC’s cyber safety crisis: Why overconfidence is putting millions at risk

• Digital literacy gaps: In countries with uneven broadband rollout and high rural populations (for example, Indonesia and the Philippines), older adults often adopted internet use later in life and may lack formal digital training. An older person in a provincial town might rely on a younger relative to set up online banking and then be more trusting of messages that appear to come from that helper.
• Trust and social norms: Many seniors in countries such as Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia are raised in cultures where courtesy and respect make them less likely to challenge seemingly authoritative requests—such as a call from a “bank official” asking for OTPs (one‑time passwords).
• Financial targeting: Scams exploiting government relief or pension schemes have been reported across the region. In Indonesia, for instance, fake texts claiming to be from local social‑assistance programmes have tricked older recipients into revealing banking details. The financial impact is severe — respondents to the bolttech study voiced fears that “hard‑earned money can be lost just like that.”
• Language and UX barriers: Many seniors prefer local languages or dialects, but some mainstream apps or official guidance are only in national languages or English. This mismatch increases reliance on informal advice channels and heightens vulnerability to misinformation.

Real‑world example: In the Philippines, a wave of so‑called “vishing” (voice phishing) scams exploited older citizens by simulating government helplines. Victims would willingly share sensitive numbers, believing they were securing benefits, illustrating how social engineering preys on trust and perceived authority.

Why teenagers are particularly exposed in Southeast Asia

Teenagers are frequently online, socially connected, and eager to engage — traits that make them attractive targets:

• Platform‑specific risks: Teens in Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines engage heavily on short‑form video apps and messaging platforms. Fake promotions, impersonation accounts, and deepfake content can spread quickly. A viral “discount code” may ask for a phone number, leading to SIM swap fraud or premium‑rate subscriptions.
• Peer pressure and reputation: In collectivist societies across the region, the fear of losing social standing can discourage teens from reporting online harassment or scams. Respondents noted teens’ reluctance to disclose scams for fear of embarrassment or punishment — a concern amplified where family honour is central.
• Economic desperation: In some cities across Southeast Asia, teenagers pursue quick online earnings through freelancing or crypto schemes. Predatory “work‑from‑home” job offers or multi‑level marketing scams exploit this economic drive.
• Mental health and cyberbullying: Cyberbullying incidents in countries such as Thailand and Indonesia have led to profound harm. The bolttech study’s concern that teens “click too fast” intersects with impulsive emotional responses to online provocation, increasing both victimisation and risky retaliatory actions.

Also Read: Why do people fall for online scams in this digital age?

Real‑world example: A viral scam in Indonesia targeted high‑school students, promising fast cash through a “study‑reward” crypto app; many signed up and lost savings, while some suffered reputational damage after personal data was leaked.

Household cyber safety: the weakest link in Southeast Asian homes

A key insight from bolttech is starkly visible in multi-generational Southeast Asian households: one vulnerable member can expose an entire household. Typical scenarios include:

• Shared devices: Families often share phones or computers. If a teen downloads a malicious app, it may access their parents’ or grandparents’ accounts.
• Intergenerational trust: Seniors may forward messages from their social circle that contain malicious links, putting younger family members who use the same Wi‑Fi or accounts at risk.
• Digital help dependencies: Younger adults frequently “manage” older relatives’ online accounts, creating single points of failure if credentials are compromised.

This dynamic calls for multi‑generational education and protections that recognise household patterns common across the region: from kampongs (villages) in Malaysia to barangays in the Philippines.

What education and support should look like — practical Southeast Asian approaches

To move from concern to action, coordinated efforts across governments, civil society, telcos, platforms, and families are needed. Effective examples and possibilities:

1. Localised, language‑appropriate curricula: Ministries of Education and NGOs can adapt cyber‑safety modules into community centers and senior clubs. For example, Singapore’s Cyber Security Agency already runs community outreach; similar models can be scaled in Bahasa, Tagalog, Thai, Vietnamese and minority languages.
2. Trusted helplines and “no‑shame” reporting: Create toll‑free numbers and WhatsApp/SMS channels where seniors and teens can report scams anonymously. Partnerships between banks, telcos, and consumer protection agencies in Malaysia and the Philippines could provide immediate fraud‑mitigation steps (freeze account, block SIM) to reduce losses.
3. Embedding safety into daily platforms: Messaging apps, e‑commerce marketplaces, and social platforms popular in Southeast Asia should integrate simplified reporting flows and one‑tap help links. For seniors, UX designs with larger fonts, clear local language prompts, and built‑in scam warnings when clicking external links would reduce risk.
4. School and family programmes: Teach teens not only prevention but also incident response — how to document scams, whom to tell at home, and how to preserve evidence. Encourage family “cyber discussions” where tech‑savvy members guide older relatives without judgement.
   Community champions: Train community volunteers — librarians, religious leaders, barangay health workers — as cyber safety ambassadors who can translate technical steps into culturally appropriate guidance.
5. Industry and regulatory measures: Stronger KYC (know‑your‑customer) safeguards, anti‑SIM‑swap protocols, and mandatory fraud reporting by platforms can reduce attack vectors. Regulators in the region can encourage reporting transparency to identify patterns early.

Looking forward: building resilience in a diverse region

With cybercrime expected to increase and 64 per cent of households anticipating a victim within the next year, protecting vulnerable groups across Southeast Asia and the wider Asia‑Pacific is urgent. Key priorities:

Also Read: Cybersecurity: The evolution from digital safeguard to economic governance

• Prioritise multi‑language, life‑stage appropriate education.
• Make reporting easy, anonymous, and stigma‑free.
• Design platform features that reduce impulsive risk for teens and offer clear safeguards for seniors.
• Foster cross‑sector collaboration: governments, private sector, civil society, and families.

The bolttech findings are a clear call to action: cyber safety in Asia‑Pacific is not only about technology — it’s about people, cultures, and social structures. By embedding culturally sensitive education, accessible support, and household‑level strategies, Southeast Asian countries can protect both the wisdom of older generations and the promise of the young. The goal is a shared cyber safety culture that leaves no one behind.

The post The household cyber risk no one talks about appeared first on e27.

The cryptocurrency market just witnessed a powerful reminder of how leverage and sentiment can collide to create violent price moves. A sharp Bitcoin-led rally forced over-leveraged short sellers to cover, triggering around US$471 million in crypto derivatives liquidations across major exchanges within 24 hours. About US$471 million of futures positions were wiped out, with roughly US$348 million from shorts and US$123 million from longs as BTC pushed toward US$74,000.

This was not random noise. It was a classic short squeeze, fuelled by crowded bearish positioning, negative funding, rising open interest, and strong ETF inflows into BTC and ETH. I have seen this pattern repeat across cycles, and each iteration teaches the same lesson. When leverage builds on one side of the market, the reversal does not just correct the price; it resets positioning with force.

The scale of the flush matters because it reveals where the real risk lives. Data from derivatives trackers shows roughly US$471 million in crypto futures liquidations over 24 hours, with shorts taking the majority of the hit at about US$348 million versus US$123 million in longs, as Bitcoin and Ethereum ripped higher toward key resistance near US$74,000. This pattern matches reporting that a BTC surge to the mid-70,000s erased over US$500 million in leveraged positions, with the largest daily wipeout of shorts since late February in some samples.

The pain concentrated in major coins such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other large caps, where leverage runs deepest. That tells us the move was big enough to reset a lot of leveraged positioning, not just a minor intraday shakeout. When the largest shorts get squeezed in the most liquid names, the signal travels fast through the entire derivatives complex.

Behind the numbers sat a textbook setup. After recent macro and geopolitical volatility, many traders rebuilt short exposure, with funding rates turning negative and open interest climbing as BTC dipped into the mid-60,000s. When spot prices reversed higher amid renewed ETF inflows and easing macro fears, exchanges’ risk engines began liquidating underwater shorts into a rising market, forcing additional buy orders and accelerating the upside.

Similar dynamics played out on ETH, where more than US$100 million in shorts were liquidated in a day, compared with a much smaller amount of long liquidations. Bears leaning too hard into downside with high leverage can turn into forced buyers, amplifying rallies beyond what spot demand alone would justify. I view this as a structural feature of modern crypto markets, not a bug. Derivatives and ETF flows now act as powerful amplifiers, and anyone trading without watching funding rates and open interest is flying blind.

Also Read: Quantum ambitions go global, and Southeast Asia wants in

This squeeze did not happen in isolation. Global markets on 6 March 2026 were dominated by risk-off sentiment as the conflict among the US, Israel, and Iran drove a broad retreat in risk assets. While US stock futures showed some stability early in the day, Asian and European equities fell sharply, heading toward their steepest weekly losses in years. US major indices closed lower on Thursday due to soaring oil prices and geopolitical fears. The Dow Jones dropped 784.67 points to close at 47,954.74. The S&P 500 declined 0.56 per cent to 6,830.71. The Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.26 per cent to 22,748.99.

Overseas, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 1.1 per cent on Friday, marking its worst week in six years. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.66 per cent to 54,915 points. In Europe, major indices such as the FTSE 100, DAX, and CAC 40 declined by 1.5 per cent to 1.6 per cent amid ongoing energy disruption fears. Oil prices anchored the move, with WTI crude surging above US$80 per barrel following reports of an Iranian strike on an oil tanker and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Rising energy and labour costs fuelled fears that the Federal Reserve would maintain high interest rates to combat sticky inflation.

The US Dollar gained as a safe-haven, heading for its best week since 2024. Gold prices remained volatile, briefly hitting US$5,400 earlier in the week before settling near US$5,100 by Thursday. Investors awaited the US Non-Farm Payrolls and Retail Sales reports for February to gauge the health of the labour market. In that backdrop, Bitcoin’s initial surge toward US$74,000 stood out as a sharp counter-trend move before macro gravity reasserted itself.

Also Read: Gold surges past US$5,340 and Bitcoin breaks US$70,000 as Middle East crisis sends markets into chaos

Post-event, derivatives metrics suggest that some excess leverage on the short side has been cleared, with funding rates normalising and open interest stabilising slightly lower. Order book data still shows dense liquidity zones both above and below the current price, and prior episodes suggest that traders are quick to re-leverage once volatility cools.

For risk monitoring, the key signals are funding rates, especially if they flip extreme again, sharp jumps in open interest, and any renewed surge in ETF flows that could interact with crowded futures positioning. The immediate squeeze may be over, but this remains a high-leverage environment where sudden price moves and positioning shifts can still trigger large, fast liquidation cascades. I watch these signals closely because they often telegraph the next inflection before price confirms it.

Bitcoin now trades down 1.72 per cent to US$71,244.79 over the past 24 hours, underperforming a slightly weaker broader market, primarily driven by a risk-off shift amid escalating Middle East tensions. It shows a strong correlation of 0.86 with Gold, indicating a shared macro-driven move. The primary reason remains geopolitical risk from the US-Iran conflict, which spiked oil prices and triggered a flight from risk assets.

A secondary factor was technical rejection at the key US$74,000 resistance level, where selling pressure overwhelmed buyers. Near-term, if BTC holds above the US$70,000 to US$71,000 whale bid zone, it could retest US$74,000. A break below risks a move toward US$67,500. I see this range as the battlefield where macro narrative and derivatives positioning will duel for control.

What should readers take from this sequence?

• First, the reported US$471 million liquidation wave resulted from an aggressive short buildup caught offside by a strong Bitcoin-led rebound, not from a structural failure in the market. It has cleared some speculative froth, and derivatives activity and ETF flows remain powerful amplifiers, so future positioning extremes could again translate into abrupt squeezes rather than smooth trend moves.
• Second, in a world where oil can jump above US$80 on geopolitical headlines, and equities can post their worst week in years, crypto will continue to mirror macro risk while retaining its own leverage-driven volatility.
• Third, independent analysis matters more than ever. Crowded narratives can flip fast when funding rates turn, open interest spikes, or ETF flows accelerate. I prefer to track the plumbing, not just the price.

With all that said, I expect volatility to remain elevated as markets digest geopolitical shocks, inflation data, and the ongoing tug-of-war between risk-on and risk-off flows. Bitcoin’s correlation with Gold at 0.86 reminds us that macro drivers can dominate in the short term, even for an asset built on decentralisation. The derivatives layer adds a crypto-native amplifier that can exaggerate moves in either direction. If funding rates flip extreme again or open interest jumps while price consolidates, prepare for another squeeze. 

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AI is rapidly transforming industries worldwide, bringing both opportunity and disruption to women in the workplace. While AI promises productivity gains and new career paths, it also risks widening existing gender gaps if organisations fail to act deliberately.

Automation is already reshaping how work is structured across sectors. Many roles involving routine or repetitive tasks are increasingly being augmented—or replaced—by AI systems. Because women are often overrepresented in administrative, clerical, and customer service positions, these shifts could disproportionately affect female workers.

As businesses accelerate digital transformation, leaders must consider how technological change impacts gender equity. Without thoughtful workforce planning, AI adoption could unintentionally exacerbate existing disparities in skills development, leadership representation, and career progression.

According to Yvonne Teo, Vice President of Human Resources, APAC at ADP, organisations have a critical responsibility to ensure that technological progress benefits everyone.

“The transition to an AI-driven workplace will reshape roles across every function,” Teo says. “Leaders must ensure this shift expands opportunities rather than deepens existing gaps.”

Her comments reflect growing global conversations about the future of women in the workplace, particularly as companies integrate AI into daily operations.

Also Read: Cybersecurity and trust: A digital dawn for women in rural India 

Upskilling as a strategic priority

Despite widespread discussion about AI, many workers remain uncertain about what the technology means for their careers.

In Singapore, ADP research shows that nearly one in five workers (19 per cent) are unsure how AI will change their job responsibilities. This uncertainty highlights the challenge organisations face in communicating how roles may evolve in an increasingly automated environment.

At the same time, confidence in career readiness appears uneven. Only about one in four female workers (24 per cent) say they believe they have the skills needed to advance their careers over the next three years.

These findings suggest that the conversation about women in the workplace must increasingly include access to future-focused skills. As AI reshapes job requirements, the ability to adapt will become essential.

Workforce transformation cannot rely solely on new technology. It must also include meaningful investment in people.

Teo notes that leaders should approach upskilling strategically and ensure development opportunities are accessible to all employees.

This involves rethinking how jobs are structured. Rather than viewing roles as fixed positions, organisations can break down job scopes into individual tasks and redesign them to integrate both human and AI capabilities.

By doing so, companies can identify where human strengths remain essential. Skills such as critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, and communication remain areas where people outperform machines.

Equipping employees with these capabilities—alongside digital literacy and data analysis skills—will be critical to ensuring that women in the workplace remain competitive in an AI-driven economy.

Also Read: Bridging the gender gap in GenAI learning: Strategies to get more women involved

Designing roles for human-AI collaboration

As AI becomes more embedded in everyday workflows, the most successful organisations will focus on collaboration between humans and machines rather than simple automation.

This means recognising the value of human judgement, relationship-building, and contextual decision-making—areas where technology alone cannot deliver optimal outcomes.

Redesigning roles with these strengths in mind can create new opportunities for employees whose traditional responsibilities may evolve due to automation.

For women whose roles may be more exposed to AI-driven changes, these redesign efforts can be particularly important. Structured career pathways, mentoring programmes, and transparent training opportunities can help ensure that talent pipelines remain diverse and resilient.

The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day, “Give To Gain,” underscores the importance of deliberate action when it comes to workplace equity.

Progress for women in the workplace does not happen automatically through technological advancement. Instead, it requires organisations to intentionally provide equal access to training, mentoring, and career development opportunities.

When companies invest in inclusive skills development, they benefit in multiple ways. A workforce that feels supported and prepared for change is more likely to remain engaged, innovative, and committed.

Equitable access to development also strengthens leadership pipelines, ensuring that women continue to play a vital role in shaping the future of work.

As AI adoption accelerates, the choices organisations make today will determine whether technology becomes a force for greater inclusion—or a catalyst for widening gaps. For leaders navigating this transformation, the goal should be clear: ensure that innovation strengthens, rather than sidelines, women in the workplace.

The post AI could redefine women in the workplace—and companies must act now appeared first on e27.

Cyber threats in Asia-Pacific are often framed as a technological problem, but the bolttech report reminds us that they are equally a social one. Seniors and teenagers sit at opposite ends of the digital experience spectrum, yet both face strikingly similar vulnerabilities online. One group may trust too easily, while the other often acts too quickly — and cybercriminals are adept at exploiting both behaviours.

In Southeast Asia, these risks are amplified by cultural and structural realities. Multi-generational households, shared devices, and strong social trust networks create environments where a single compromised user can expose an entire family. When a senior forwards a suspicious message or a teen downloads a malicious app, the consequences rarely stay confined to one individual.

Addressing this challenge requires moving beyond generic cybersecurity advice. Education must be localised, language-accessible, and tailored to different life stages. Seniors need clear guidance that builds confidence rather than fear, while teenagers require digital literacy that emphasises critical thinking and responsible online behaviour.

Equally important is reducing the stigma around reporting scams. Victims — whether young or old — often remain silent due to embarrassment. Governments, platforms, and financial institutions must create reporting systems that are simple, immediate, and judgement-free.

Ultimately, building cyber resilience in Asia-Pacific will depend not only on better technology but on stronger digital habits within families and communities.

REGIONAL

Chips, corruption, and credibility: Malaysia’s semiconductor gamble faces a trust test: Malaysia’s probe into the Arm chip design deal raises questions about governance, investor confidence, and SEA’s race for semiconductor leadership.

Southeast Asia’s VC winter? Funding dips sharply in February: Southeast Asia’s startup funding slowed in February 2026, with US$76M across 13 deals. The decline reflects a broader venture capital recalibration amid shifting investor priorities.

Aonic bags US$10M Series A as Malaysia’s agri-drone race heats up: Kairous Capital is the lead investor. Aonic integrates drone manufacturing, software, financing, and operator training to make agricultural spraying faster, safer, and data-driven.

Google DeepMind strengthens Asia Pacific presence with Singapore lab launch: Google DeepMind launched a Singapore research lab to advance frontier AI, expand regional collaboration, and develop inclusive technologies tailored for Asia-Pacific markets and diverse global communities.

TradeTogether raises fresh capital to build MAS-regulated Web3 investment rails: Singapore wealthtech firm targets institutional capital with regulated funds combining tokenised assets, traditional markets, and blockchain-based investment infrastructure.

Singapore to launch AI, tech visa track with US$23K income rule: The track will replace the Tech.Pass and requires applicants to have earned at least a fixed monthly salary of US$17K plus vested non-cash pay to meet a US$23,478 monthly threshold in the past year.

Acceler8 secures seed funding led by a16z Speedrun to build real-time workforce intelligence platform: The company converts real work signals generated across enterprise tools and workflows into continuous intelligence that leaders can use to guide people’s decisions.

Indonesia sets platform age limits for children from March 28: The regulation requires platforms to restrict access so users must be at least 16 for high-risk services and at least 13 for lower-risk services. The rule targets tech companies and sanctions platforms that fail child protection duties, not children or parents.

FEATURES & INTERVIEWS

Quantum ambitions go global, and Southeast Asia wants in: Governments worldwide are investing billions into quantum computing to boost security and innovation. SEA is emerging through partnerships, talent development, and specialised roles in software, manufacturing, and regional collaboration.

The Quantum gold rush is becoming an infrastructure race: Quantum computing funding is concentrating into a few capital-intensive platform companies, reflecting an infrastructure race, while Southeast Asia’s opportunity lies in deployment, integration, and quantum-ready industry ecosystems.

Echelon Philippines 2025 – Partnering for Growth: How great founders and VCs build together: A fireside chat between Puiyan Leung of Vertex Ventures SEA & India, and Thaddeus Koh, Co-Founder and Programs Director of e27, explores the mindset founders need to navigate entrepreneurship.

INTERNATIONAL

Oracle plans thousands of job cuts as AI costs rise: The reductions could start this month and will target roles the company expects to need less of because of AI. Oracle is embarking on a historic build-out of data centres to run AI workloads for customers including OpenAI.

OpenAI CEO criticises Anthropic, backs stronger gov’t power: Anthropic, clashed with the Department of Defense over model use and was labelled a “Supply-Chain Risk to National Security” by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth before President Trump directed agencies to “immediately cease” using Anthropic technology.

Chinese gaming billionaire plans US$2B investment in next-genAI: Chen Tianqiao, founder of Shanda Group, said the US$2B investment will be used to develop “discoverative AI,” his term for AI integrating long-term memory, causal reasoning, and predictive modelling beyond current large language models.

Netflix buys Ben Affleck’s AI film tech firm: Affleck founded InterPositive in 2022 and said the company trained AI models to follow visual logic and editorial consistency while adding restraints to protect creative intent. Financial terms were not disclosed.

CYBERSECURITY

The household cyber risk no one talks about: Bolttech’s 2026 cyber safety report reveals seniors and teenagers across Asia-Pacific face similar online risks, urging multi-generational education, platform safeguards, and coordinated action to strengthen digital resilience in Southeast Asia.

APAC’s cyber safety crisis: Why overconfidence is putting millions at risk: Consumers across Asia Pacific are dangerously overconfident in their cyber safety, but when it comes to actual online habits, the reality tells a starkly different story.

Cybersecurity and trust: A digital dawn for women in rural India: Rural Indian women are embracing digital tools to grow businesses and access services, but fragile trust, cyber fraud risks, and community-led cybersecurity training shape their journey toward safe digital empowerment.

Why trust is your startup’s only moat: Cybersecurity is the foundation of trust in SEA’s digital economy, where breaches, misinformation, and fraud quickly damage reputation, partnerships, and growth. Clear communication and preparedness protect credibility before crises erupt.

Cybersecurity, psychology, and our awkward digital relationship: Cybersecurity is emerging as the trust layer of APAC’s booming digital economy, where strong security, clear communication, and behavioural nudges help users feel safe while protecting them from rising scams.

Abuse engineering: The discipline security teams still don’t formalise: Abuse engineering reframes platform misuse as adversarial economics, building observability and targeted friction to make exploitation unprofitable while protecting legitimate users.

SEMICONDUCTOR

US considers new AI chip export rules that require investment: The new rules could require foreign nations to invest in the US, including in the American tech stack, or provide security guarantees to receive 200,000 or more AI chip, according to a document.

Taiwan export orders hit record high on strong AI, chip demand: Taiwan’s export orders in January rose 60.1% YoY to US$76.9B, marking the 12th straight month of double-digit growth and the highest single-month total. The figure was up 0.9% from December and beat the ministry’s US$70-72B estimate.

Nvidia shifts chip production on China import delays: sources: Nvidia has shifted TSMC capacity from H200 chips intended for China to its newer Vera Rubin processors after US export controls and possible Chinese import limits stalled the approval process.

AI

AI Agents: Good or bad?: AI agents are transforming digital commerce by autonomously browsing, transacting, and deploying code—reshaping trust models while introducing new cybersecurity risks across e-commerce, payments, and Web3 ecosystems.

Your US$900M AI is failing because humans don’t work the way you think: AI ventures like Olive, Pear, and Babylon collapsed despite strong technology because they ignored real-world workflows. The real barrier to innovation isn’t computation — it’s human behaviour, context, and adoption.

Hunters in the dark: AI agents and the cybersecurity trade-off: AI agents promise powerful automation but expand security risks through deep integrations and credentials. Balancing capability and safety requires zero-trust design, human oversight, verifiable identities, and cross-industry standards.

Why Confluent sees real-time data as the key to AI success in Asia Pacific: Confluent is helping Asia-Pacific enterprises move beyond AI pilots by building real-time data infrastructure, enabling scalable AI deployments, improved governance, and measurable business outcomes across diverse regional markets.

AI-powered cybersecurity solutions driving next-gen enterprise resilience: AI-powered cybersecurity helps enterprises detect subtle threats hidden in routine activity, correlate signals across complex environments, prioritise risks, reduce alert overload, and accelerate response against increasingly automated cyberattacks.

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

Fragmentation to scale: What the payment journey of India portends to SEA: Southeast Asia’s fragmented digital payments contrast with India’s interoperable UPI model. As real-time payments scale, governance, trust, dispute resolution, and system reliability become critical infrastructure challenges.

2026’s hard truth: Why faster coding means more messy releases: AI has accelerated coding, but startups still miss deadlines because decision friction—unclear scope, weak testing, poor communication, and delayed security—slows delivery. Winning teams build systems that turn decisions into stable releases.

The future of board – C-suite collaboration: From oversight to strategic partnership: Asian boards must evolve from passive oversight to strategic partnership with the C-suite, enabling faster decisions, stronger risk management, innovation, and resilience in today’s complex, fast-changing business environment.

The future of travel payments infrastructure: Is orchestration the missing layer?: APAC travel is rebounding fast, but fragmented cross-border payment systems create operational bottlenecks. Payment orchestration platforms promise unified infrastructure, improving transaction success, reconciliation, fraud control, and conversion.

Asia’s cross-border payment surge: A US$23.8T opportunity with fragmented solutions: Cross-border payments may nearly double from to US$23.8T by 2032, but fragmented infrastructure, regulatory complexity, and weak interoperability challenge fintech expansion across diverse regional markets.

From extreme fear to cautious hope: What the 10-point sentiment swing signals for crypto: Crypto market gains 5.2% to US$2.45T, but strong S&P 500 correlation shows macro liquidity driving rally, not crypto fundamentals. Bitcoin must hold US$72K.

When tools start acting for you: The hidden cost of shadow IT: Shadow IT and Shadow AI emerge when employees adopt unapproved tools to work faster. Individually harmless, these systems can create hidden infrastructure, governance blind spots, and significant security, compliance, and accountability risks.

The post Ecosystem Roundup: The hidden household cyber risk; SEA’s VC winter deepens; The Quantum gold rush turns infra race appeared first on e27.

Learning is a forever journey and not something that should be halted or resumed as and when it is seemingly needed. From children requiring tuition in addition to classroom education, or adults in need of self-improvement courses, education has become a necessity.

This situation has been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic threatening jobs in almost every industry, leading to the need to re-skill and upskill.

However, courses, whether academic or non-academic, have become more and more expensive over the years. Many of them charge exorbitant fees but do not impart lasting impact, knowledge, or significant skills to their students. In the end, students often walk away from these courses feeling disappointed and harbouring a recurring question: What have I learnt from this?

I noticed this phenomenon among my peers when I was in university. At the same time, I fell in love with training, speaking, and educating — basic skills that I felt everyone should have access to. Because of this, I became very disillusioned with these issues within the education industry and set out to change the norm.

Addressing gaps in the education industry

I have been a serial entrepreneur since graduating from the National University of Singapore (NUS). After learning all I could from my internships, I realised that I could combine my love for public speaking and training with my goal of making education and learning, not only transparent but also accessible and affordable — by having students of my own. I began with teaching the skill I was most familiar with and had mastered by the age of 18: forex trading.

To polish my speaking and training abilities, I decided to join multiple firms and take up a variety of leadership positions which I felt accelerated my training as a public speaker. They included positions like Academy Director of Forex100 Academy, a forex trading school; Head of Blockchain Development at Jigsaw Capital, a consulting firm; and Vice President of InvestPage Holdings, an investment holdings company which provided opportunities to investors while serving as an education hub.

Also Read: HH Investments VC Founder Maarten Hemmes on why the entrepreneurial journey is more important than the end result

Each of these roles required me to lead others, imparting the lessons and skills that I had learned as I polished my skills over the years. However, the journey towards becoming a professional trainer and speaker was not easy.

One of the challenges which I faced in becoming a professional trainer was my age. As I started with financial coaching, many believed that I was too young to be coaching other people and that age reflected my calibre. Despite giving it my best in terms of teaching, many still found it hard to trust me because of my youth.

Another challenge I faced was my own conscience; while I did not believe in overpriced courses, I was constantly pressured to follow the “market rate” while setting the prices for my courses. It troubled me greatly because in my heart, I knew that education and the price tag attached to it, should be affordable by the masses. These challenges, especially the latter, continue to haunt me as I struggled to find my compass in life.

Soon, I started Reubiks Academy in 2014, which began as a transparent and trusted learning ecosystem for aspiring traders and those looking to boost their financial literacy and wealth management skills.

The road to digitising education and making learning transparent

As I continued to hone my skills as a trainer, the path to success was even rockier. I unexpectedly experienced failure after failure in my pursuit of entrepreneurship. I was even betrayed by ex-business partners resulting in a financial loss of approximately S$200,000 (US$150,000) by the time I was 27 years old.

This betrayal was extremely painful because I had trusted my then-partner so much, leaving him to handle day-to-day operations while I focused on running the sales component of the company.  At one point, my losses had become so enormous that I only had S$289.60 (US$217) to survive. However, I learned a valuable lesson; a true blue entrepreneur might not be the best at every component of the business but he or she must be able to, at least oversee and execute it at a basic level.

Despite falling on hard times, I only became even more determined to create viable options and transparent avenues for everyone looking to learn. More than that, I aimed to protect students, young and old, from potentially unscrupulous individuals, who would charge large sums of money in exchange for a curriculum that provided little value.

Also Read: SMU’s Protégé Ventures as a catalyst for entrepreneurial education

To recover my losses, I took on multiple part-time jobs just to get by. I worked part-time as a sales associate in the Merchant Acquisition department at GrabFood, gave tuition to primary school children, taught blockchain technology to adults, and took on website and app development projects.

During this period, I discovered that not only did parents find it difficult to find affordable and reliable tuition for their children, but that people looking to learn a skill were not given sufficient choices like price comparisons of courses, and previews of their selected curriculum, among others.

Most importantly, the entire education industry needed disruption as parents and learners were still making phone calls to arrange tuition for their children with a tutor they have never seen before.

The culmination of my part-time gigs, especially during a time where online marketplaces like Grab were gaining notoriety, led me to create a platform that would allow students to “shop” for tutors and lessons in a marketplace setting. With this, Reubiks Academy evolved into Reubiks mobile app, an education marketplace that gives students access to any educational curriculum imaginable, whether academic or non-academic.

How education marketplace benefits both tutors and students

 In line with the goals that initially spurred me on to embark on this journey, an education marketplace like Reubiks mobile app provides students with transparent, accessible, and affordable education that was never available before.

By browsing through a list of tutors, their curriculum, their teaching styles, and their fees, and filtering them via a simple comparison feature, students of all ages can make informed choices in their learning journey with us. Transparency is further guaranteed by the marketplace as students can experience free trials before deciding on their lessons.

Meanwhile, trusted tutors who utilise a platform such as Reubiks mobile app are able to tap into a network of eager students, enabling a more efficient method of teaching while ensuring a healthy transfer of knowledge.

Also Read: How edutech startups can accelerate active learning

With the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in education becoming an increasingly virtual process, tutors must find new ways to reach their students and conduct classes effectively. Therefore, an education platform such as Reubiks mobile app which matches students to prospective tutors and vice versa might just be the answer!

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This article was first published on December 14, 2020

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The generative AI boom is set to accelerate digital transformation throughout a range of industries and breathe fresh life into a banking ecosystem that still struggles with overcoming legacy processes. With payments already a focal point for challenger banks and fintechs, GenAI can help to deliver efficiency on a broader scale. 

Bloomberg data suggests that generative AI is set to grow into a US$1.3 trillion industry by 2032, and this will see use cases emerge throughout the field of finance. 

Crucially, the rise of generative AI will aid fintech in delivering more open finance services for customers in an impactful way. 

The emerging technology will also breathe new life into payment management and processing through the use of embedded finance, super apps, metaverse payments, decentralised wallets, cryptocurrency integration, and buy now pay later (BNPL) services, among many more functionalities. 

But how exactly will generative AI transform the payments landscape for consumers and institutions alike? Let’s take a deeper look at five key ways in which the GenAI boom will change the payments ecosystem forever:

Next-generation payments management

The natural ability of generative AI to operate alongside algorithms that can utilise complex structured and unstructured data is a key asset for driving transformation in the payments ecosystem. 

Generative AI can help stamp out instances of human error and deliver more accuracy throughout operations on a wider scale. 

Artificial intelligence can also help to streamline the routes taken throughout payment processing to add greater efficiency through each interaction in the process — whether the payments are actioned domestically or internationally. 

With the help of analysing data and generative algorithms, AI models can autonomously select the most efficient and cost-effective methods, helping to drive more value for all parties concerned.

This added element of digitalisation paves the way for faster payment processing and stronger cash flow management. 

Also Read: Unleashing the power of specialised AI startups in the era of generative AI

By mitigating instances of human error, artificial intelligence models can also prevent costly mistakes due to payment inaccuracies and deliver greater levels of customer satisfaction as a result.

Invoicing autonomy

One jarring legacy process that’s still prevalent in the world of payments revolves around invoicing. With paper invoices and email attachments still commonplace among billers requesting payments, this crucial financial service remains largely inefficient. 

Legacy billing involves the manual input of bank details which is prone to both delays and human error. However, generative AI can help to automate this process in its entirety by extracting payment information from invoices, removing the risks attached with manually inputting bank details. 

Through machine learning algorithms, AI systems can also actively monitor invoices and payments for any errors between the biller and the customer to assist any manual tasks within the payment process. In practice, this would help to match invoices to payments and reconciling accounts. 

Automating payouts can transform trust in a range of industries. Throughout supply chains with vendor payouts and marketing with AP automation, it’s possible to leverage payments through flexible international route payments based on structured analytical performance insights.

Stamping out fraud

Because of the seamless ability of AI to analyse significant volumes of data almost instantaneously, the emergence of generative AI can be an excellent tool in preventing instances of fraudulent activity in payments. 

All card transactions generate significant volumes of data points, and much of it has the potential to identify and stamp out fraud among transactions online. 

Whenever a payment is processed, generative AI can automatically analyse data alongside a machine learning (ML) algorithm that’s trained to spot trends surrounding fraud to make a rapid decision to approve or flag the transaction for suspicious activity. 

As digital transformation continues to transform how payments are made, fraudulent activity can be a challenging prospect for many fintech firms and traditional institutions alike. It’s through advanced GenAI solutions that all institutions can actively monitor and protect against fraud in real-time to a safer financial ecosystem for all.

Advanced product prototyping

Another area of finance that holds great potential due to the arrival of generative AI is product prototyping. Large language models (LLMs) like GPT-3 are capable of generating sample code for virtually any purpose. This opens the door to GenAI tools seamlessly generating code for prototype products and services. 

Also Read: Why AI needs context and curiosity, not toxic positivity

In a financial landscape that’s already actively embracing open finance services, generative AI is capable of accelerating the growth of this industry subsector by producing efficient coding for brand-new features in the space for fintechs to pioneer. 

Additionally, the programs can take on board feedback to improve its own code to improve the product and fine-tune its capabilities. 

For fintech startups, this means more innovation for fewer resources that can serve a variety of functions and are rapidly tested. In terms of payment integrations, this prototyping landscape could significantly improve the time to market for new payment features and efficiencies.

Embracing personalised marketing

Generative AI can also help payments providers to market their products more effectively. From in depth market research powered by the interpretation of large data sets by artificial intelligence to the creation of marketing materials for hyper-specific audience segments, it’s possible to market directly to leads in an unprecedented manner. 

Because LLMs have the ability to automatically generate content based on simple prompts, it’s possible for payments providers to produce customer-specific generative AI content in a way that perfectly matches the expectations of the customer, no matter where they are in the world, and can help to be a driving force in converting leads into conversions on a larger scale. 

Timely boost to payments transformation

The arrival of generative AI will have a major impact throughout a vast range of industries, but its implications for the payments landscape can’t be underestimated. 

Open finance will be built on the foundations of the free flow of data and its conversion into efficient services and actionable insights. Generative AI will drive this transformation and help to make payments more efficient no matter who the parties involved are or where they are in the world. 

Additionally, the combination of ML and LLMs will introduce a new level of security and personalisation to the landscape that can help customers feel more valued and safe when making payments on a global scale. 

The age of generative AI is upon us, and its positive implications in the world of finance will be felt by everyone.

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How do you turn a napkin sketch into a global product with a lean budget, and do it on a lean budget?

It’s a question many early-stage founders wrestle with, especially when resources are tight but ambitions are sky-high. A few years ago, I found myself in the middle of one such journey. A founder with a bold fintech idea and limited funds reached out, unsure how to bring his vision to life without breaking the bank. What followed was a cross-border collaboration that not only solved his problem but launched a product now used across the world.

Here’s a case study from my own experience: a founder with a big idea teamed up with a Vietnam tech team, and together we launched something the world uses today.

The challenge

A couple of years ago, I met a founder from the UK with an ambitious idea in the fintech space. He had deep industry knowledge and a solid business plan, but one major hurdle: a limited budget to build the product. Local development quotes were sky-high and threatened to sink the project before it even started. That’s when I suggested a different path: build his tech team in Vietnam.

He was intrigued but cautious. Would a remote team understand the complex fintech requirements? Could they build a world-class product from halfway across the globe? I introduced him to a small squad of Vietnamese engineers I knew – smart, young, eager developers who had worked on similar projects. After one video call (and a lot of tough technical questions from the founder!), we decided to give it a go.

Building the team

We started with a core team of five developers in Ho Chi Minh City, plus the founder and me on the product side. From day one, we ran it like a unified team. Daily stand-ups bridged the four-hour time difference.

The founder shared his vision and industry insights with the Vietnam team, and in turn, the developers offered clever solutions to localise the app for global markets. I remember waking up to Slack messages at three AM – not with problems, but with prototypes of new features the team had built while I slept! Their enthusiasm was off the charts.

Also Read: Why founders should train like runners

Within three months, this cross-border team built the first MVP of the fintech platform. We rolled out a beta to a small group of users in Europe simultaneously to gather diverse feedback. After a quick iterative cycle (thanks to the team’s rapid turnaround), we launched globally in our 6th month. The result? Users from over three countries signed up in the first week.

Scaling to global product

Over the next year, the Vietnam team grew to 15 strong as user demands and feature requests expanded. Because of the cost savings, the startup had funds to scale marketing and customer support. The product kept improving every sprint. Founder flew to Vietnam and spent a month with the team, aligning the roadmap and soaking up domain knowledge.

By the end of year one, that little startup had 50,000+ users worldwide and attracted a round of venture capital that valued it in the eight figures. And yes, the entire development team was still proudly based in Vietnam.

Key takeaways

• Talent and dedication win: The Vietnam team’s skill and dedication were the linchpin. They weren’t just contractors; they felt like co-founders. They often suggested features to make the product better for global users, not just blindly coding tasks. This ownership mentality accelerated innovation.
• Speed via time zones: Our 24-hour development cycle (UK/Vietnam overlap) became a secret weapon. While the founder slept, code got written; by morning, things had progressed. We turned what could have been a challenge into a speed advantage.
• Cost efficiency = longer runway: Building the team in Vietnam saved an estimated 60 per cent on development costs. That money went straight into user acquisition and cloud infrastructure to handle growth. The extended runway meant we could focus on refining the product instead of constantly worrying about the next fundraise.
• Cross-cultural team, one vision: We treated the Vietnam developers as equal partners in the mission. The founder held virtual town-halls with the whole team, ensuring everyone understood the why behind the product. This cross-cultural unity – European domain expertise and Vietnamese technical talent – was key to creating a product that appealed to users globally.

What started as an idea and a tight budget turned into a global fintech product success – largely because we leveraged the power of Vietnam’s tech talent through a partnership approach. It’s a model I’ve now seen work multiple times, in different industries, not just fintech.

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Asia-Pacific’s cross-border payment volume is on track to hit US$23.8 trillion by 2032, nearly doubling from US$12.8 trillion in 2024. But behind the headline growth lies a fragmented payment infrastructure where regional scale remains a costly ambition rather than a given.

A new report from Money20/20 and FXC Intelligence, launched at Money20/20 Asia in Bangkok, lays out the numbers – and the growing urgency – for interoperability across Asia’s diverse markets.

“Asia’s payments landscape is evolving quickly, but also with remarkable complexity,” said Daniel Webber, Founder and CEO of FXC Intelligence. “This report underscores the need for intentional collaboration across borders, sectors, and technologies to create truly inclusive financial ecosystems. Interoperability isn’t just a tech challenge—it’s a regional opportunity.”

Growth masks fragmentation

Asia-Pacific’s share of global cross-border flows is expected to rise from 32.2 per cent to 36.8 per cent by 2032. But volume alone does not mean market readiness.

“Growth figures reflect strong momentum but hide deep market disparities,” says Fernanda De Fino, Director of Global Risk & Compliance at EBANX, a global fintech specialising in payments in 29 emerging markets across Latin America, Africa, and Asia. “What works in Singapore doesn’t port over easily to markets like Indonesia or Vietnam”, she adds.

EBANX’s Beyond Borders 2025 report highlights the recent growth of new payment methods, largely driven by emerging economies, and signals significant changes in global consumer behaviour. These methods, characterised not only by their real-time transfer capabilities but also by their seamless, mobile-born, and digital-first operations, are redefining how people engage with financial transactions and fostering the growth of digital commerce.

Though many of these alternative payment methods (APMs) weren’t initially designed for paying merchants, their deep integration into daily life makes them the dominant choice for online purchases in many countries. 

Also Read: How to build deep tech startups across borders

Southeast Asia and India together are projected to see a 122 per cent increase in consumer spending over the next decade, outpacing Latin America (57 per cent) and Africa (103 per cent). According to Statista data in Beyond Borders, online sales are projected to grow by 14 per cent annually across emerging Asian countries over the next two years, with India leading the charge.

Regional players—both large and small—looking to expand must adapt to diverse consumer behaviors and fragmented tech ecosystems. Success hinges on understanding markets shaped by peer-to-peer (P2P) payment habits, which are now accelerating the shift toward digital commerce among new users.

Why interoperability is the next big fintech battleground

Startups looking to win in cross-border payments need a dual approach: deep local integration paired with regional interoperability.

Despite 88 per cent of industry stakeholders rating interoperability as “very or extremely important,” there’s little consensus on how to achieve it.

Real-time payment systems are seen as the most likely driver of integration (66 per cent), followed by digital wallets (59 per cent). But regional fragmentation persists, with no dominant cross-market infrastructure gaining real traction.

“We’re seeing a significant acceleration in how cross-border money moves, and the next decade will be crucial in shaping the infrastructure that powers it,” said Scarlett Sieber, Chief Strategy and Growth Officer at Money20/20. “Asia’s future lies not in a one-size-fits-all model, but in interconnected systems that balance innovation with regional adoption.”

QR codes: A missed opportunity?

Take QR codes, hailed as the low-cost rails for financial inclusion. Thailand’s PromptPay, Singapore’s NETS QR, and Indonesia’s QRIS were all built with similar aims. Yet they run on incompatible specs.

Efforts like ASEAN’s Project Nexus aim to link these systems, but progress has been slower than fintech founders hoped. Even successful efforts like Singtel’s VIA alliance remain limited in adoption beyond core territories.

Meanwhile, China’s WeChat Pay and Alipay continue expanding in the region, adding pressure on local players to compete, or connect.

What founders need to know about Asia’s regulatory maze

The report singles out regulatory complexity as a top barrier to scale. 86 per cent of respondents cite policy discrepancies, from KYC requirements to data localisation, as a persistent challenge.

Also Read: Learn the ropes around scaling your startup across borders

“E-wallet rules in markets like Indonesia and Vietnam are constantly evolving, which demands higher compliance standards,” says De Fino. “These changes may create new challenges for fintechs entering these markets.”

Singapore’s sandbox model is seen as a bright spot, but elsewhere, inconsistent rules slow expansion and discourage early-stage fintechs from attempting cross-border moves too soon.

Partnerships: Fintech’s real-world solution to fragmentation

91 per cent of fintech leaders agree that partnerships will shape the region’s infrastructure future. But making those partnerships work is easier said than done.

“The successful ones are balanced, technically, commercially and regulatorily,” says De Fino. “You need clear value for all parties, not just the biggest player.”

Past attempts at integration show the pitfalls: enthusiasm at launch, but little traction when business models aren’t aligned.

Don’t forget inclusion

A major blind spot in the race for scale? Financial inclusion. The unbanked and underbanked still make up a significant portion of the population in Southeast Asia.

Agent banking and cash-in/cash-out points remain critical in countries like the Philippines and Indonesia. Any real cross-border solution must account for these users, or risk leaving millions behind.

Bottom line

Cross-border payment volume in Asia is booming — but founders and fintechs should resist the hype cycle. Regional expansion won’t be plug-and-play. It’ll require local-first design, regulatory foresight, and above all, partnership.

The US$23.8 trillion opportunity is real. But the rails to get there are still under construction.

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The APAC travel sector is booming — airports are packed, hotel bookings have surged, and tourism numbers in countries like Thailand, Japan, and Indonesia are surpassing pre-COVID-19 levels. According to the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), international visitor arrivals in APAC are expected to exceed 500 million by 2026.

But behind this growth story lies an unsolved operational problem: payments.

While the front end of travel has become frictionless — with intuitive mobile apps, AI-driven recommendations, and 24×7 booking — the payment infrastructure that powers these experiences remains fragmented, and often invisible until it fails. And it fails often, especially across borders.

The hidden complexity of travel payments

Travel isn’t like other verticals. It’s inherently time-sensitive, emotionally charged, and cross-border. That makes the role of payments uniquely critical. In my conversations with airlines, hotels, and OTAs, I identified these key pain points:

• Fragmented payment ecosystem

For travel merchants — airlines, OTAs, or hotel chains — the payment process isn’t a simple swipe. It involves a labyrinth of interconnected players: GDS platforms like Amadeus and Sabre, IATA settlement systems, payment gateways and acquiring banks, card networks and local wallets, Property Management Systems (PMS), travel agents, and B2B settlement intermediaries. Each plays a critical role in the transaction journey, yet no one is fully in control.

• Cross-border complexity

A traveler in Kuala Lumpur may use GrabPay, one in Tokyo prefers cards, and another in Sydney pays via Apple Pay. Add to that dynamic currency conversion, foreign exchange fees, and country-specific payment regulations. With travellers coming from different countries and using different currencies and methods, cross-border payments must be seamless.

Also Read: Asia’s cross-border payment surge: A US$23.8 trillion opportunity with fragmented solutions

• Reconciliation across markets and channels

Managing payouts, commissions, and settlements across countries and systems — whether online, in-app, or point-of-sale — is operationally heavy. Without unified reporting and reconciliation, finance teams are left to piece together fragmented data manually, risking errors and delays.

• High drop-off risk at checkout

Unlike retail, where a failed transaction might lead to a later retry, travel purchases are often time-sensitive. If a customer can’t use their preferred method or faces a failed payment, they’re more likely to abandon the booking and switch platforms — costing businesses immediate revenue and long-term loyalty.

• Refunds, cancellations, and disputes

The volatility of travel – weather delays, visa issues, changing plans – means refund handling and reversals need to be just as smooth as payments themselves. A clunky refund process creates friction and erodes trust.

• Missed opportunities for loyalty and up-sell

When payments are treated as a backend function, opportunities to drive loyalty, bundle ancillary services, and personalise offers at the point of payment are often lost.

• Fraud risk, compliance, and data control

Travel payments are high-risk by nature — with large transaction values, frequent international bookings, and elevated fraud potential. At the same time, travel merchants must navigate country-specific compliance mandates, data localisation rules, and privacy regulations. Without unified oversight and controls, the result is false declines, audit gaps, and lost trust.

Simply put: payments have become a bottleneck to growth. Travel brands need payment infrastructure that’s not just reliable, but also smart, flexible, and built for global-local realities.

One emerging approach to these challenges is payment orchestration, which unifies diverse payment systems into a central infrastructure

Orchestration platforms serve as a middleware layer, aiming to improve coordination between different parts of the payment system. Think of it as a “control tower” for payments — overseeing, optimising, and routing every transaction for maximum efficiency.

How orchestration platforms are changing the payments landscape

Modern orchestration platforms are purpose-built for complex, multi-market industries like travel. Here’s how orchestration helps travel brands simplify operations and unlock growth:

• Single unified platform

Travel payments involve many moving parts: from GDS and IATA systems to acquiring banks, card networks, PMS platforms, and POS systems. An orchestration platform connects them all into a single interface, helping travel merchants centralise control while preserving flexibility.

Also Read: Taking control of your payments: Why payment orchestration is becoming a necessity

• Seamless cross-border payment acceptance via local integrations

Activating region-specific payment options — like GCash in the Philippines, Dana in Indonesia, or UPI in India — is critical to conversion in diverse APAC markets. Orchestration simplifies cross-border payment acceptance with plug-and-play integrations for local methods, cards, BNPL, and bank transfers — helping merchants deliver preferred payment experiences to global travellers.

• Streamlined omni-channel reconciliation

Travel merchants often juggle payments across direct websites, mobile apps, offline counters, and partner channels — spanning multiple countries and currencies. Orchestration unifies these data flows into one system, enabling automated reconciliation across geographies and touchpoints. This reduces manual effort, speeds up settlements, and ensures financial accuracy at scale.

• Intelligent routing for improved success rates

By dynamically selecting the optimal payment path for each transaction — based on issuer preferences, network costs, customer geography, or real-time performance data — orchestration platforms reduce failures and false declines. Add in network tokenisation and intelligent retries, and merchants can boost success rates by up to 5–10 per cent.

• Automation for complex workflows

Travel payments are filled with edge cases — partial cancellations, no-shows, split payments, and refund reversals. Orchestration platforms handle these complexities with automated workflows, reducing manual overhead and ensuring faster, error-free resolutions.

• Payments as a growth lever

For travel merchants, orchestration platforms offer potential operational benefits when expanding into new markets

By linking payment identity with CRM systems, they also unlock personalised checkout experiences: from loyalty points redemption to upsell opportunities and pricing innovations like “price lock.” This future-proofs the payment infrastructure while turning it into a lever for customer satisfaction and revenue growth.

More importantly, orchestration platforms bring the agility travel companies need to scale internationally, adapt to regulatory shifts, and reduce dependency on multiple partners.

The road ahead

Some companies in APAC have begun exploring orchestration platforms to improve cross-border payment operations to build future-ready payment stacks that can streamline operations, improve payment success rates, and build checkout experiences that convert.

As travel becomes increasingly digital, personalised, and embedded across channels, payments can no longer be treated as an afterthought. They are not just a backend function; they are a strategic layer that drives customer loyalty, conversion, and profitability.

So, is the future of travel payments already here? Not quite. But with orchestration, we now have the blueprint.

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Boards in Asia have long been seen primarily as oversight bodies – monitoring management, reviewing reports, and approving major decisions. That model worked in a more stable, predictable era. But the landscape has changed: disruption is constant, stakeholders demand transparency, and the speed of decision-making has accelerated. The future of governance requires boards to move beyond oversight toward genuine strategic partnership with the C-suite.

Boards that embrace this shift strengthen resilience, accelerate innovation, and create sustainable shareholder and stakeholder value.

Why traditional board-management interaction is insufficient

Historically, boards received information from executives and provided approval or challenge. This model has three limitations:

• Delayed insights: By the time reports reach the board, critical opportunities or risks may have passed.
• Reactive decision-making: Boards react to what has already occurred rather than shaping strategy in real time.
• Limited value-add: Directors with deep expertise often spend most of their time reviewing compliance reports rather than influencing strategic decisions.

In today’s environment, this approach undermines agility. Boards must actively engage in forward-looking dialogue that informs, challenges, and guides executive strategy.

The strategic partnership model

The boards that excel in Asia are adopting a collaborative framework while maintaining independence. Key elements include:

• Structured engagement

Boards and executives should establish clear communication rhythms – monthly strategic briefings, quarterly deep-dives, and scenario workshops. These sessions focus on emerging risks, market opportunities, and strategic options, not just historical performance.

• Role clarity

While partnership is essential, boundaries must remain clear:

• The board sets strategic direction, risk appetite, and governance principles.
• The C-suite executes strategy, manages day-to-day operations, and recommends capital and resource allocation.

Clear delineation prevents overreach and ensures accountability.

• Joint scenario planning

Boards and executives should co-create scenarios for market disruption, regulatory change, technological innovation, and talent shifts. These exercises allow both parties to anticipate shocks and stress-test assumptions before crises occur.

• Risk integration

Strategic decisions and risk management must converge. Boards should engage with management to understand enterprise-wide risk, including emerging risks in AI, cybersecurity, climate, and geopolitics. Together, they can align risk appetite with strategic goals.

Also Read: Cybersecurity and data governance in the boardroom: A strategic imperative for Asian boards

Benefits of close board — C-suite collaboration

Boards that partner effectively with executives enjoy several advantages:

• Faster decision-making: Timely insights from the board accelerate strategy execution.
• Better risk management: Shared understanding of potential disruptions reduces blind spots.
• Stronger innovation: Constructive challenge drives creative solutions and identifies new market opportunities.
• Enhanced organisational resilience: Coordination between governance and execution ensures adaptability under stress.
• Improved trust and accountability: Clear communication strengthens relationships between directors, executives, and stakeholders.

Collaboration does not dilute independence — when done correctly, it amplifies oversight effectiveness.

Building a collaboration-ready board

To move from oversight to partnership, boards must:

• Upgrade capabilities: directors need skills in technology, ESG, human capital, and geopolitics to engage meaningfully.
• Invest in board education: workshops, executive briefings, and site visits ensure directors understand business dynamics and emerging trends.
• Embed collaboration in culture: encourage open, constructive debate while maintaining respect for executive decision rights.
• Use data-driven insights: dashboards and scenario modelling allow directors to challenge assumptions based on facts, not intuition.
• Regularly review collaboration effectiveness: survey executives, assess board contribution to strategy, and adjust engagement rhythms.

Boards that systematically implement these practices strengthen both governance and enterprise performance.

Also Read: From classroom to boardroom: How Singapore’s universities nurture future investment leaders

The future role of the independent director

Aspiring independent directors must recognise that their value lies not just in oversight but in strategic contribution. The best directors:

• Ask tough questions while fostering a collaborative dialogue
• Bring cross-industry perspectives and expertise
• Anticipate emerging risks and opportunities alongside management
• Help align long-term strategy with operational execution

Independent directors who excel in this collaborative model will become highly sought-after assets on Asian boards navigating uncertainty.

Partnership without compromise

The future of board-C-suite collaboration is not about blurring governance lines. It is about structured, disciplined, and forward-looking engagement. Boards must maintain independence while actively shaping enterprise strategy, risk posture, and long-term value creation.

Boards that successfully transition from passive oversight to strategic partnership will position their companies to thrive in complexity, disruption, and uncertainty – turning governance into a source of competitive advantage.

This article was first published on The Boardroom Edge.

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