News & Signals
DOF: LGUs can reduce assessment levels and tax rates under RPVARA to lower property taxes
The RPVARA update gives local-government and property watchers a clearer read on tax-setting discretion and property-tax policy.
Southeast Asia Connect Editors
News & Signals
How Group Schools Are Rethinking College Counselling at Scale
College counselling used to be a contained job: one counsellor, one cohort, a familiar shortlist of universities. For a group […]
News & Signals
M-DAQ’s Vietnam move strengthens the payments-infrastructure case for ASEAN expansion
M-DAQ Global says its strategic integration with METech gives the Singapore fintech direct regulated payments infrastructure in Vietnam, adding another corridor to its ASEAN payments platform.
News & Signals
Alpha Ladder uses LEAP East to test a Singapore fintech expansion story in Hong Kong
Alpha Ladder says its LEAP East appearance marked its first public step into the China market, with the Singapore fintech positioning itself around global expansion finance and AI-enabled support.
News & Signals
GXS digital-bank recognition puts embedded finance into ASEAN focus
GXS Group says its Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia digital-bank network has been recognised by Euromoney, with ecosystem finance and AI-enabled credit assessment central to the commercial story.
News & Signals
Singapore animation gains international recognition as The Violinist wins at Annecy
IMDA says The Violinist won the Cristal Award and Best Original Soundtrack at Annecy, creating fresh international recognition for Singapore animation.
News & Signals
ADB highlights Philippines public-finance roadmap and COMPASS monitoring platform
ADB president Masato Kanda used a Philippines public-finance reform event to highlight the 2024-2028 roadmap and the COMPASS monitoring platform.
Insights
Southeast Asia’s AI adoption race is becoming a local-language test
Google’s Gemini Southeast Asia signal points to a wider commercial question: whether AI tools can work reliably in the languages and mixed-language workflows that shape the region.
SEA Connect
Thailand and Singapore deepen cybersecurity and digital-fraud cooperation
The Bank of Thailand and the Monetary Authority of Singapore said the agreement expands ongoing collaboration to strengthen cyber resilience and combat digital fraud in their financial sectors.
News & Signals
DBS puts corporate banking infrastructure into the AI-banking spotlight
DBS says Global Finance named it World’s Best Corporate Bank, with the citation pointing to corporate banking infrastructure, programmable payments and AI-driven tools.
News & Signals
Novo Tellus’ RME buyout pushes Singapore private capital deeper into industrial technology
Novo Tellus says it has completed an investment in Russell Mineral Equipment, an Australian mining-equipment and aftermarket-services company, alongside RCF and NRFC.
News & Signals
UOB and Visa turn ASEAN affluent cards into a multi-market payments signal
UOB says it is relaunching several card products across Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam under Visa’s new premium tiers, reaching more than 300,000 cardholders.