Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) and Ant International signed a memorandum of understanding on October 26, 2026, to explore cross-border payments and digital treasury services. Their initial focus is Japan, Singapore and wider Southeast Asia. Engineering teams will examine whether Ant International’s Whale RTP platform can be integrated with SMBC’s institutional transaction banking and digital asset platforms. The agreement is exploratory, not the launch of a live settlement service. SMBC’s multi-market transaction banking rails are expected to support operations involving Ant International’s Alipay+, Antom and WorldFirst businesses. Ant International says its Whale platform processed more than US$600 billion in global treasury flows in 2025, with over 95% of transactions settling on the same day. Those figures describe the existing platform, not activity under the SMBC agreement. The MoU follows separate tokenized-deposit work involving Ant International and other banks, including a live OCBC solution and an HSBC pilot.
Tech Mahindra and Finastra announced on October 23, 2026, that Tech Mahindra had completed its acquisition of Finastra’s cash management products and related intellectual property. The deal moves Tech Mahindra beyond implementing banking software for clients and into owning transaction banking products. Financial terms were not disclosed. The acquired portfolio includes Fusion Cash Management, Fusion Virtual Accounts and Fusion Liquidity Management, along with CashPlus, Global CashPlus and associated transaction banking APIs. Finastra product engineering and customer success personnel are being moved into Tech Mahindra’s banking, financial services and insurance division. Tech Mahindra plans to integrate the products into its existing Finastra Centre of Excellence to maintain service continuity for banking clients. The acquisition follows Tech Mahindra’s earlier purchase of an 85% stake in Canadian fintech Avant Techno Solutions and comes as Finastra divests businesses to concentrate on lending and payments software.