Asian Legal Review

A blast targeting a train carrying military personnel killed at least 24 people on Sunday in Pakistan’s turbulent southwestern province of Balochistan, a senior official said.
Army servicemen and their relatives were among the victims of the attack in the provincial capital Quetta, with over 50 people wounded, the official told AFP.
The attack, claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) militant group, was branded a “cowardly” act of terrorism by Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Images…

A nine-storey building under construction in a city north of the Philippine capital collapsed before dawn on Sunday, leaving at least one Malaysian tourist dead and at least 21 people, mostly workers, trapped in the rubble, officials said.
Two were located alive but could not be immediately extricated.
At least 24 workers either managed to dash out of the building, where they mostly slept on the ground floor, or were rescued after it crumbled to the ground around 2:30am in a crowded…

Thailand’s PromptPay digital payment system — one of Southeast Asia’s most successful financial infrastructure projects — could serve as a blueprint for modernising the global trade finance sector, according to Rahul Bhargava, a senior financial sector advisor at the World Bank and interim chief operating officer of Contour Network.

Bhargava made the case at Money20/20 Asia 2026 in Bangkok, arguing that while consumer payments in Southeast Asia have advanced rapidly, the trade finance industry remains mired in inefficiency. The sector continues to rely heavily on paper-based letters of credit, manual bank confirmations via phone and email, and disconnected systems that force banks, buyers, sellers, and logistics firms to coordinate across siloes.

Trade Finance’s Chronic Bottlenecks

A critical problem, Bhargava explained, is the lack of true data integration. When payment terms are altered through informal channels such as email or WhatsApp but primary documents are not updated, disputes and operational errors follow. Trade documents frequently sit in separate systems with no automatic reconciliation, leading to delays that cost businesses time and money.

In contrast, modern payment platforms like PromptPay can send settlement confirmations almost instantly, notifying recipients within seconds that funds have arrived. Yet in trade finance, organisations still depend on manual confirmations from banks — a stark contrast in speed and reliability.

PromptPay: A Dual Approach That Works

PromptPay’s success, launched in 2016, stems from what Bhargava called a powerful synergy of top-down and bottom-up forces. The Bank of Thailand set clear roadmaps, established common standards for digital payments, and created regulatory sandboxes for innovation trials. Meanwhile, banks, payment providers, and citizens embraced the technology, transforming daily transaction volumes from hundreds of thousands at launch to over 81 million today.

The system allows users to transfer money using citizen IDs, mobile phone numbers, or bank account numbers with minimal fees. Transfers are free under THB 5,000 (US$153), with larger transactions charged nominal fees of THB 2 to THB 10. PromptPay is also used for government social welfare disbursements, tax reimbursements, B2B payments, and electronic donations.

Cross-Border Expansion Underway

The Bank of Thailand is actively connecting PromptPay with similar systems across the region, including Malaysia’s DuitNow and Singapore’s PayNow, enabling seamless cross-border transactions. QR code payment connectivity has also been extended to Hong Kong and Laos.

Data compiled by the Emerging Payments Association Asia shows dramatic shifts in Thailand: account-to-account transactions accounted for 41% of all point-of-sale payment value in 2024, surpassing cash at 31%, giving cashless payments a total 66% share. Digital banking accounts reached 181.8 million in January 2026, with transaction volumes up 10.6% year-on-year.

Implications for Global Trade

Bhargava’s proposal is that the global trade sector could replicate PromptPay’s regulatory-technology partnership model. The Contour Network, which operates a blockchain-enabled platform for digitising letters of credit since 2017, has been exploring how to integrate trade digitalisation with payments and settlement within a unified ecosystem. If successful, the model could dramatically reduce trade processing times and costs across Southeast Asia and beyond.

For ASEAN regulators and financial institutions, the story offers a compelling case study: state-backed standard-setting, combined with private-sector adoption and a permissive regulatory environment, can produce payment infrastructure that scales to hundreds of millions in daily transactions — and the next frontier may be transforming the multi-trillion-dollar trade finance industry.

Read the full story: https://fintechnews.sg/131823/thailand/promptpay-as-a-blueprint-to-modernize-trade-finance-and-infrastructure/

India’s state-run refiners raised retail prices again of diesel and petrol on Saturday to help processors cut losses on discounted sales and to control a spike in demand.
Prices of both fuels rose by nearly one per cent, or less than 1 rupee, with petrol now sold at 99.51 rupees (US$1.0399) and diesel at 92.49 rupees per litre in New Delhi, according to the website of Indian Oil Corporation, the country’s largest fuel retailer. Prices vary across India due to local taxes.
Smaller peers Bharat…

Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio has twice in recent weeks urged the country’s armed forces to defend its sovereignty, in a carefully calibrated attempt to sound more assertive on the South China Sea issue without directly challenging Beijing, according to analysts.
While Duterte-Carpio did not name China, her repeated calls marked a tonal shift from her earlier approach, when she either avoided the issue or warned against letting it define Manila’s broader relationship with…

The Indonesian government announced Thursday that the upstream oil and gas sector will be exempted from the controversial single-gate export centralization policy, a significant reversal that underscores the political economy’s sensitivity in a capital-intensive industry reliant on foreign investment.

Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Bahlil Lahadalia told delegates at the 2026 Indonesian Petroleum Association Convention and Exhibition in BSD City that the regulation under PP No. 21/2026 will not apply to upstream oil and gas operations. “I bring a special message from the President: the regulation does not apply to the upstream oil and gas sector. So, there is no need to worry, it’s business as usual,” he said.

Under a separate concession, Bahlil also confirmed that oil and gas exporters face different deposit rules than other exporters. Forex retention in the sector will be capped at 10 to 30 percent, reflecting heavy reliance on foreign financing.

The exemptions come days after President Prabowo announced on May 20 that key commodity exports — crude palm oil, coal, and ferroalloys — would be channeled through a single state-owned enterprise, PT Danantara Sumberdaya Indonesia (DSI). The government aims to prevent under-invoicing and transfer pricing fraud, which officials said could be costing the state up to US$150 billion annually.

During a June-to-September trial phase, exporting firms will still conduct direct transactions with buyers, but DSI handles export filing. From January 2027, DSI takes full control of export contracts, shipments, and payments. A later phase will expand the list to all strategic natural resource commodities.

The policy has drawn business pushback. The Indonesian Coal Mining Association warned that existing contracts, permits, and shipping schedules complicate any abrupt shift, while industry groups fear a de facto monopoly that could undermine buyer confidence across ASEAN markets.

Coordinating Economy Minister Airlangga Hartarto confirmed the revised regulation allows exporters to place part of their proceeds outside the Himbara banking consortium. The government also halved the currency conversion limit for FTA trading partners from 100 percent to 50 percent.

For ASEAN, Indonesia’s unilateral trade policy marks a significant shift in how Southeast Asia’s largest economy manages commodity export flows. Analysts warn it could trigger regional pushback and complicate Jakarta’s standing in ASEAN economic cooperation frameworks.

Polymarket, the world’s largest decentralized prediction market platform, is exploring entry into Japan, marking a potentially significant development for the cross-border fintech industry in East Asia. The move comes even as the platform faces intensifying regulatory headwinds across multiple jurisdictions.

According to reports, the FTX-backed company is actively pursuing Japan as its next major market expansion following its success in European and Latin American jurisdictions. Japan represents one of the largest and most mature markets for prediction markets globally, with a substantial domestic culture of speculative and forecast-based financial products.

The timing is particularly notable given the heightened regulatory scrutiny Polymarket and similar platforms face worldwide. In India, for instance, Polymarket was recently blocked by government directive, with India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology ordering service providers to terminate access to the platform in what was described as part of a broader crackdown on cross-border online prediction and betting platforms.

In the United States, Polymarket has also come under congressional scrutiny, with a US House inquiry launched into potential insider trading related to the platform’s markets on geopolitical events. The probe, led by the House Oversight Committee, has called for detailed disclosures from Polymarket’s leadership regarding how the platform manages and prevents insider information from influencing market outcomes.

Japan’s approach to prediction markets would represent a test case for the country’s broader regulatory posture toward novel financial technologies. The Financial Services Agency (FSA) has historically taken a cautious but evolving stance on crypto-adjacent financial products, having recognized cryptocurrencies as legal property in 2017 and subsequently establishing a licensing framework for virtual asset service providers. The introduction of a new regulatory category for prediction markets would require either new legislation or an interpretive expansion of existing financial instruments regulation.

For ASEAN regulators watching closely, Japan’s treatment of platforms like Polymarket could set precedent that reverberates across Southeast Asia, where regulators are still grappling with the classification and oversight of prediction market infrastructure and its implications for consumer protection, market integrity, and capital controls.

The story highlights the broader tension in Asian financial regulation between fostering innovation-friendly environments and managing the risks associated with novel financial instruments that operate across borders and traditional regulatory boundaries.

India has moved to shut down global prediction market platforms from within its borders, with Polymarket — the world’s largest decentralized prediction market — becoming inaccessible for Indian users this week. The enforcement marks a significant escalation in India’s approach to regulating cross-border online prediction and betting platforms, and sends ripple signals across the Asian fintech and crypto landscape.

The outage follows a directive issued on April 25 by India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to local VPN service providers. The ministry warned that Indian users were continuing to access “illegal and blocked prediction market and online betting platforms” despite existing domestic prohibitions, and directed internet service providers to terminate access to these platforms. Polymarket was among the primary targets.

CoinDesk first reported that Polymarket’s website now returns a “This site can’t be reached” error for users attempting to access it from India. Refreshing the page does not resolve the connection issue, confirming that the blocking is actively enforced at the network level rather than an isolated service disruption.

While Polymarket — a platform built on US-based blockchain infrastructure that allows users to bet on real-world outcomes from elections and geopolitics to sports and economics — is now blocked, another major player, Kalshi, remains accessible in India for now. However, reports from local media citing anonymous MeitY sources claim the ministry has “already issued a blocking order to Polymarket and are in the process of issuing an order to Kalshi as soon as Friday.”

Kalshi holds a notable distinction: unlike Polymarket, it is regulated by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and operates with compliance frameworks that would typically make it a model for regulatory engagement. The prospect of Kalshi also being blocked — even with its regulatory credentials intact — suggests India’s approach extends beyond unregistered platforms to all prediction market operators, regardless of where they hold licenses.

The timing is significant for Asian regulatory dynamics. India’s massive digital economy — with hundreds of millions of smartphone users engaged in both traditional online betting and emerging crypto-adjacent activities — makes it a critical battleground for platform operations. Several other ASEAN nations, including Singapore and Malaysia, have been actively debating how to regulate prediction markets and binary outcome trading, and India’s hard-line approach will likely factor into those deliberations.

Singapore’s Monetary Authority (MAS) has taken a principles-based regulatory stance on AI applications in financial services, which extends to novel trading instruments. Malaysia’s Securities Commission has explored regulating “betting exchanges” under securities law. Thailand has been developing frameworks for digital asset service providers. India’s blocking of Polymarket signals that at least one major South and Southeast Asian jurisdiction is willing to deploy coercive technical measures rather than engage in negotiated regulatory frameworks.

The broader implications are far-reaching for cross-border fintech regulation in the region. If Kalshi is also blocked, it would demonstrate that India’s prohibition applies broadly to prediction markets regardless of jurisdiction, regulatory status, or compliance posture. For the platforms involved, this creates an uncertain operating environment across the region, where one nation’s enforcement action can signal to others to follow suit.

CoinDesk reached out to both Polymarket and Kalshi for comment at the time of reporting. As of this writing, neither platform has issued a public statement regarding the Indian blocking. The situation is developing rapidly, and the Kalshi blocking order — reportedly imminent as of the original report — could further reshape the regional outlook for prediction market regulation.

Providers of AI systems in the EU should find it easier to understand whether those systems constitute ‘high-risk’ AI systems under the AI Act, triggering follow-on duties, as a result of new guidance that has been issued, an expert in tech regulation has said.

On Great Nicobar, a remote island located closer to Indonesia than mainland India, New Delhi is embarking on one of its biggest developments in decades.
The US$9 billion project is intended to transform the country’s southernmost tip into a major transport hub comprising a transhipment port, an international airport and associated logistical facilities.
Spread across 166 sq km (64 square miles), the project in India’s Andaman and Nicobar archipelago is slated for completion over three decades,…