Aggregate losses across Hong Kong's digital banks narrowed sharply, while two leading players, ZA Bank and livi Bank, moved into profitability, supported by an improving revenue mix and tighter cost control, signalling growing progress towards break-even across the sector after more than six years in the market.
Robust capital markets activity and lower credit provisions lifted first-half earnings at leading US banks, but gains were concentrated among the largest, most diversified institutions. JPMorgan Chase led the group in absolute pre-tax profit, while limited margin expansion and slower revenue growth at regional lenders exposed a widening earnings divide.
Thai financial players entered the lower-rate cycle in the first half of 2026 with strong balance sheets and capital positions, but the key differentiator was how effectively they repriced deposits as asset yields declined, rather than credit quality. Krungsri emerged as the best-performing financial institution among its peers.
Indian lenders posted stronger first-half profits as lower loan provisions boosted earnings, but weak revenue growth and margin pressure point to a more challenging outlook.
Europe’s largest banks by country showed surprising resilience in the first half of 2026, with broad-based growth across their business segments. UBS, Barclays and BNP Paribas stood out, although part of their results were boosted by corporate-centre gains, treasury performance and exceptional items. Strong earnings prompted several banks to raise their full-year guidance and reconsider mergers and acquisitions
Gulf banks saw earnings momentum weaken in the first half of 2026 as slower revenue growth, narrower margins and higher provisions offset resilient credit quality. Emirates NBD, Kuwait Finance House and Qatar National Bank outperformed, while the Iran conflict amplified differences across markets and raised the stakes for loan growth, funding and credit costs in the second half of the year.
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Mai Kaneko leads international business and marketing at DeCurret DCP, a Japanese fintech firm operating a multi-bank network for tokenized deposit under the DCJPY framework. She oversees international expansion initiatives, bank-fintech partnerships and global go-to-market strategy. She holds a Master’s in International Relations from Georgetown University and a Bachelor’s in Economics from University of Tokyo.
Kinoshita has been involved in product development projects across a wide range of industries in Japan, including e-commerce, retail, banking, insurance, and manufacturing. He joined DeCurret DCP in 2024, where he has been engaged in the development of digital currency infrastructure. In addition to building the underlying infrastructure, he supports digital transformation (DX) initiatives associated with the adoption of digital currency solutions across various industries, and promotes projects aimed at enabling cross-border transactions.
Jason Hunt works within ANZ's Industry & Innovation function, engaging with industry challenges, trends and disruptive technologies across payments, digital assets, platforms and data-driven solutions. ANZ was a participant in Project Acacia, the joint Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre (DFCRC) initiative exploring digital money in wholesale tokenised asset markets, which concluded with its final report in May 2026. ANZ has also previously issued its own Australian dollar-denominated stablecoin, A$DC, to settle a real-money digital asset transaction.
Zhu Kuang Lee leads UOB's Innovation Group, formed in April 2025 to consolidate the bank's work across digital assets, data management, blockchain and enterprise artificial intelligence. He represents UOB in regional digital money and tokenisation initiatives, including collaboration with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), and has described the bank's approach as embedding compliance into system design from the outset rather than adding it later.
Abhinav is currently based in Singapore and leads Client solutions and Sales for Partior. In this capacity, he oversees clients' journeys including commercial and central banks, from defining use cases to product integration. Before taking on this role, Abhinav gained extensive experience working with both global and local banks. He spearheaded transformative initiatives in Payments and Core Banking, requiring him to coordinate efforts across business units, technology teams, and regulatory bodies. Abhinav played a pivotal role in implementing Faster Payments projects throughout Asia, including notable projects like Singapore G3 Fast, Malaysia Duit Now, and Hong Kong FPS. Prior to his tenure in the banking sector, Abhinav served as a Payments Financial Services consultant to various banks and payment fintech companies such as ANZ, Deutsche Bank, and Bank of America. Originally from India, Abhinav holds an Engineering degree and a Postgraduate qualification in Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. He is also a dedicated father of two, and he enjoys spending his weekends playing tennis and cherishing moments with his family.
Sakae Hamasaki joined Sanwa Bank (currently MUFG Bank) in April 1993 and worked in corporate banking across five domestic locations. From 2006 onward, he gained extensive experience in the planning, development, and sales of payment-related services for corporate clients in Japan and overseas. He joined DeCurret DCP in 2022, where he has been leading initiatives to support banks in evaluating the adoption of tokenized deposits, as well as collaborating with overseas partners to build cross-border networks utilizing tokenized deposits.
Anouska Ladds is Executive Vice President of Commercial & New Payment Flows, Asia Pacific at Mastercard, based in Singapore. With over 17 years at Mastercard, she has held senior roles across sales, strategy, operations, market development, consultancy, and product development, spanning Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Previously at Barclaycard, she specialised in strategy, customer experience, communications, and SME/acquiring businesses.
David is a seasoned technology executive with significant experience and has over 25 years' experience in CISO and CIO roles across different industries and countries. David has served as a CIO spans across multiple industries and geographies. He was winner Australia CIO of the Year for driving CUA's Transformation. Also, David was CISO for HSBC and Global Head Technology, Cyber and Data Risk Macquarie Group.
A regular conference keynote speaker and thought leader he writes for CIO, CSO, Computerworld and Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD). His best-selling book - the Aspiring CIO & CISO was published in June 2024 and his second book A Day in the Life of a CISO launched in October 2025 and is already best seller in UK, Singapore, Japan and Australia.
Johnson is a seasoned executive and data and AI leader with over 15 years of experience across the public and private sectors. He is currently Assistant Chief Executive at IMDA, where he helps shape Singapore’s digital future and advance the digital economy. He has held senior data and AI roles in regional banking and global consulting, and began his career in defence and critical infrastructure.
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