Asia

Most mainland investors can still only watch gains in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., as China’s most valuable listed company extends increases after its Hong Kong stock exchange debut.

Billionaire Jack Ma’s Ant Financial is planning to raise about $1 billion for a fund that will invest in startups from Southeast Asia to India and help strengthen its foothold in fast-growing mobile internet markets, a person familiar with the matter said.

The Bank of England fined Citi $57 million for failing to properly report capital and liquidity levels at its European investment bank and other global operations.

India’s digital payments pioneer Paytm announced new funding from existing shareholders like SoftBank Group Corp.’s Vision Fund and new investors, as competition in the country’s finance sector heats up.

Alibaba’s gigantic stock debut in Hong Kong gives it extra fuel to become a global payments empire.

For decades card networks and issuers outside of China have tried to enter the giant Chinese consumer payments markets, but mostly have run into walls because of shifting regulations.

EML has agreed to pay £226 million (US$290 million) to acquire Prepaid Financial Services, one of Europe’s largest e-money issuers.

China wants to balance functionality with concerns about anonymity as it works toward launching a digital version of the yuan, according to an official from the People’s Bank of China.

Singapore OCBC Bank will use Google Pay to support P2P transactions starting early in 2020, following a similar path as India, where banks have increasingly embraced Google Pay for transfers.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. will spend $3.3 billion to raise its stake in Cainiao, in an effort to exert more control over the logistics subsidiary that underpins its sprawling e-commerce empire.