PM Edition: Top 10 Business Articles on LiveNews.co.nz for May 1, 2026 – Full Text

Source: Media Outreach

• New strategy highlights synergy among Global Payment, Global Account and Inclusive and Embedded Finance services built on progress in AI and interoperability.
• As a foundation to the business, Ant International’s global payment services support over 300 payment methods, including more than 10 national QR systems and 50 digital wallets and bank apps, and exceed 20 million daily transactions on average.

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA – Media OutReach Newswire – 30 April 2026 – Ant International now connects over 150 million global merchants with more than 2 billion user accounts globally, the company disclosed at its flagship MoMents 2026 fintech executive forum in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Ant International is a leading global digital payment, digitisation and financial technology provider. The company now supports 300+ payment methods in over 220 markets, including all card schemes, 50 mobile payment partners and more than 10 national QR systems, including Singapore’s SGQR, Malaysia’s DuitNow, South Korea’s ZeroPay, Thailand’s PromptPay, Indonesia’s QRIS, Sri Lanka’s LankaPay, and more. It recently onboarded more leading global e-wallets and bank apps such as iFAST Global Bank from the UK, KBank and SCB from Thailand, barq from Saudi Arabia and ShopeePay from Southeast Asia.

With an average of over 20 million transactions daily, Ant International is building broader market reach through new licenses and partnerships in Asia, Latin America and EMEA. In Vietnam, it partners with NAPAS and Vietcombank to roll out cross-border QR payment service, and is also working with the Ho Chi Minh City government on the development of an international financial centre. In Latin America, it formed a strategic partnership with Mexican fintech company R2 in late 2025, supporting the expansion of SME lending across the region. In the Middle East, Ant International collaborates with the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) and national payment network mada, with plans to introduce Alipay+ cross-border QR payments in 2026. Its recent initiatives also include plans to roll out Islamic finance programs in Southeast Asia and other emerging markets.

While serving businesses in their global expansion, Ant International also ranks in first place in terms of the number of global accounts it has been managing for businesses, particularly SMEs, engaged in cross-border commerce.

“New models of financial interoperability and AI commerce give us powerful tools to help global giants as well as mom-and-pop shops to increase resilience and expand revenue streams,” said Peng Yang, CEO, Ant International. “A broader and deeper network means we can work with more partners on more levels to deliver more innovative, trusted, and high ROI fintech solutions in the world’s fastest growing markets.”

Layered solutions for enterprises, SMEs and emerging markets to achieve inclusive growth

Yang underlined a strategy to combine the forces of its four main businesses – Alipay+, Antom, Bettr and WorldFirst – to offer more connected growth solutions for businesses of all sizes.

• Global payment: Making payments a growth engine for businesses of all sizes to thrive in the global digital economy.
• Global account: Enabling AI-powered borderless global accounts for businesses of all sizes, and serving as the ticket to digital trade and commerce. This makes ‘born global’ a reality for all businesses from day one.
• Strategic value boosters: Leveraging innovation and technology to deliver embedded financing, credit and treasury solutions that power inclusive growth.
• Innovation and technology leadership: Grounded in extensive expertise in supporting global payments and businesses of all sizes, Ant International’s leading AI and blockchain solutions are co-developed with customers, partners and regulators to deliver real impact while ensuring security and compliance.

Go-to-market FinAI solutions for real-world problem solving

Working with top LLMs, card schemes and other fintechs, Ant International builds out FinAI capacities and solutions for merchants and financial institutions to tackle real-world growth and security challenges. Key examples include:

Agentic Mobile Protocol (AMP)

At MoMents 2026, Ant International has introduced the open-sourced AMP – the world’s first agentic payment framework designed for mobile interfaces – to help drive AI commerce. The protocol enables secure, AIOps-native agentic payment connection to mobile services including digital wallets, banking apps, super apps, and mobile portals from phones to wearable devices.

AI-as-a-Service Platform

Ant International’s AI-as-a-Service platform GenAI Cockpit equips fintech partners with tools to build a wide range of agentic solutions, from customer-service assistants to sales copilots. Malaysia’s leading e-wallet TNG eWallet, and easypaisa, Pakistan’s first digital bank, are using the platform to deliver better customer experiences with AI.

AI SHIELD

Ant International’s 3-in-1 risk management transformer maintains trust in the ecosystem by providing a robust security layer underpinning all transactions processed by the company. The model is supported by over 7 billion parameters, and combines graph, sequential and tabular data to identify high-risk transactions with over 95% precision, while improving payment success rates by up to 13.5%.

Falcon TST AI FX model

The industry-first MoE-based AI FX model makes long-term forecasts with prediction accuracy of up to 93%, leveraging over 8.5 billion parameters. Deployed internally at Ant International to manage cashflow and FX exposure on an hourly, daily and weekly basis, Falcon TST has helped to cut the company’s FX costs by up to 60%. The model was open-sourced in 2025 to expand access to its capabilities and invite collaboration to advance time-series learning.

EPOS360

A pioneering AI-powered SME app, EPOS360 integrates practical AI tools with POS system, payments, banking, financing and growth operations for small businesses. The suite of AI-powered tools and payment capabilities was launched in Singapore, and is also available to merchants in Malaysia as a mini-programme via TNG eWallet.

Antom Copilot

Antom Copilot provides automation and assistance for merchants based on learnings from real-world cases, improving efficiency of services such as chargeback dispute handling by up to 46%. Within a year of its launch, 72% of Antom-onboarded merchants completed self-service payment integration with the copilot.

At the MoMents 2026 fintech executive forum held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, executives from global payment networks, banks, fintechs, tech companies, and governors came together to discuss the future of financial services in the era of AI commerce. Conversations focused on new forms of payment transformation, multi-layer global interoperability, super app evolution with AI-native tech, innovation of Islamic financing and initiatives around trust and security.

Ant International launched its Digital Business Center in Kuala Lumpur in 2024.

Hashtag: #AntInternational

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

– Published and distributed with permission of Media-Outreach.com.

MIL OSI

Source: Media Outreach

• With the new brand vision“Always with You, Always Ahead,“ we provide professional support to help customers navigate with confidence – from banking services to life protection planning. As a fully licensed bank, Ping An Digital Bank is rapidly expanding its retail banking business, having successively launched online and offline insurance, and wealth services, all accessible through one mobile app.
• Key operating indicators for 2025 demonstrated strong performance. As of 31 December 2025, total assets increased by 135% year-on-year, while net interest income for the year rose by over 60% year-on-year to more than HK$220 million.
• Retail banking has developed rapidly. As of the end of 2025, total customer deposits reached around HK$10.5 billion and continued to rise, surpassing HK$12.5 billion[1] by end of March this year.
• Lufax Holding Limited (“Lufax”) (06623.HK, NYSE: LU) has further injected HK$700 million in 2025 in support of Ping An Digital Bank’s expansion, demonstrating its strong confidence in Ping An Digital Bank’s development.

HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach Newswire – 30 April 2026 – Ping An Digital Bank (International) Limited (“Ping An Digital Bank” or “PingAnDB”) announced its annual results for the year ended 31 December 2025. Embarking on a new journey with the launch of its latest brand proposition, “Always with You, Always Ahead,” Ping An Digital Bank continues to deliver comprehensive financial services, driving rapid growth in its retail banking business through a diverse range of financial products and user-centric banking services.

The key operating indicators of Ping An Digital Bank reflect healthy and robust growth in 2025, with core profitability steadily improving. Net interest income for the year exceeded HK$222 million, representing a year-on-year growth of approximately 62%. Total customer deposits maintained a steady upward trajectory, reaching around HK$10.5 billion as of 31 December 2025, and have since surpassed HK$12.5 billion^[1] by end of March this year.

Mr. Ronald Iu, Chief Executive of Ping An Digital Bank, said, “Our brand vision, ‘Always with You, Always Ahead,’ captures Ping An Digital Bank’s mission to empower our customers with peace of mind and our ambition to shape the financial landscape ahead. We believe a truly effective bank is one that is genuinely user-friendly. Over the past year, Ping An Digital Bank has achieved a lot of milestones, completing the transformation to a fully licensed bank offering integrated insurance, wealth service and deposits services. We are committed to becoming one of Ping An Group’s integrated financial platforms in Hong Kong, serving as a trusted financial partner for every individual and business, supporting them towards a brighter future.”

Ping An Digital Bank received a total capital injection of HK$700 million from Lufax in 2025, further accelerating the development of its retail banking business and strengthen its talent and technological capabilities. We recently launched the dual-advantage wealth solution, combining the agility of a brokerage with the security of a bank, along with online and offline insurance services. Customers can access a comprehensive range of financial services—including deposits, foreign exchange, cross-border remittances, wealth and insurance—at any time via a single mobile app. Moreover, customers can instantly deploy cash funds from their savings accounts to invest in HK stocks, U.S. stocks and funds. The service allows customers to effortlessly SWITCH between investments and deposits.

Amidst a volatile global environment, swift shifts in economic conditions and escalating geopolitical tensions are posing increasingly significant challenges for businesses. Among business banking customer of Ping An Digital Bank, the loan balance of trade-related enterprises account for the largest proportion. As a keen supporter of trade-related enterprises, we have actively explored the potential of business data to revamp account opening and loan approval processes for years. By systematically addressing pain points at each stage, we have achieved efficient and accurate assessment and approval procedures, benefiting a growing number of enterprises. Moreover, Ping An Digital Bank offers comprehensive one-stop business banking services—from account opening and foreign exchange to cross-border remittances, financing, and lending—fully meeting the practical needs of enterprises in both daily operations and international expansion. As of 31 December 2025, total loans had increased to HK$3.61 billion.

Looking ahead, Ping An Digital Bank will continue to anticipate customers’ needs, always thinking one step ahead to deliver services that save customers’ time, effort and cost. We will drive innovation in products and services, enabling both individuals and businesses to enjoy seamless, all-in-one financial experience tailored to their needs. Ping An Digital Bank remains dedicated to being user-centric, further strengthening its position as a key pillar within Ping An Group’s integrated financial platforms in Hong Kong, and serving as a strong and reliable partner supporting every customer’s ambitions.

For the full report of Ping An Digital Bank’s 2025 financial statements, please visit: https://www.pingandb.com/eng/financial-report.html

Investment involves risks. The price of investments fluctuates, sometimes dramatically. The price of investments may move up or down, and may become valueless. There is an inherent risk that losses may be incurred rather than profit made as a result of buying and selling investment products. Foreign investments carry additional risks not generally associated with the domestic market. You should carefully consider whether any investment products or services mentioned herein are appropriate for you in view of your investment experience, objectives, financial resources and circumstances.

Hashtag: #平安數字銀行 #PingAnDB #AnnualResults

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

– Published and distributed with permission of Media-Outreach.com.

Source: Radio New Zealand

Small business sales continued their upward momentum at the start of the year, but there is uncertainty about whether it can continue amid the economic fallout from the Iran war.

Accounting software firm Xero’s Small Business Insights showed average small business sales rose in the March quarter, up 3.9 percent from the same period a year ago.

It followed an identical rise in the December quarter.

“In the March quarter we saw encouraging signs that discretionary spending was returning,” Xero country manager Bridget Snelling said.

“Strong results in retail and hospitality – with hospitality recording its best quarter in nearly three years – suggest households were becoming a little more willing to spend on non‑essentials,” Snelling said.

The improving sales conditions also meant jobs growth, with Xero recording small business jobs rising 1.1 percent from a year ago, led by agriculture and manufacturing, while wages rose 2.2 percent.

Retail trade sales were up more than 5 percent, while Xero said hospitality recorded its best quarter in nearly three years, up 4 percent from a year ago.

Construction sales rose for the third consecutive quarter, up 4 percent, after two years of consistent losses.

Snelling said the improvement was consistent with the impact of last year’s interest rate cuts beginning to flow through to consumer behaviour.

“Of course, we need to consider the broader macroeconomic backdrop: we are yet to see the most significant impacts of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and how this impacts the cost of living in New Zealand,” she said.

“Rising fuel prices put pressure on both sides of the ledger – they lift costs for businesses while also weighing on consumer spending.”

Snelling said it was “encouraging” to see small businesses in a stronger position to absorb the shocks after five consecutive quarters of improving sales and confidence.

Regionally, there were more signs of the so-called two-speed economy, where the South Island continued to outperform the North.

Xero said Canterbury and Otago led sales growth, up 6.5 and 5.8 percent respectively. The same two regions also led jobs growth, up 4.4 and 2.6 percent respectively.

Auckland and Wellington recorded marginally fewer jobs than a year ago, down 0.7 and 0.5 percent respectively.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

MIL OSI

Source: Radio New Zealand

Gym chain City Fitness has battled claims in court it deceived customers with misleading membership prices.

The fitness giant faced 16 charges under the Fair Trading Act .

The Commerce Commission claimed City Fitness’ advertised membership prices were misleading.

It said the gym chain did not include a compulsory transaction fee, which the commission said should have been included in the advertised price.

Labelling the 3 percent fee as a “transaction fee” which was not related to the costs for processing membership fee payments was also misleading, the commission said.

In the Auckland District Court on Thursday, the lawyer for the commission, Jacob Barry, said nearly 200,000 people had been affected by the costs over 16 months.

He described it as a cynical marketing ploy.

“As best as I can tell, none of the money has returned to the customers.”

He said City Fitness had been deceptive.

“City Fitness obviously saw there was a competitive benefit in pursuing it this way,” Barry said.

“It gets the benefit of the market, being able to sell its memberships with that attractive looking number, but it’s doing that in a false way and in my submission, in a consciously false way.”

The fee generated just under $1.6 million during that period, which Barry said was illegitimately obtained.

City Fitness continued to advertise the membership price despite being alerted the Commerce Commission was investigating, which Barry said was reckless.

Representing City Fitness was James Every-Palmer KC, who said the gym chain had not been deceptive, and that by the time customers were paying, they would have known about the fee.

“It arose out of good intentions from City Fitness to keep prices as low as possible, however, they fell down through a flawed implementation,” he said.

“But on the other hand, there’s no evidence that a single consumer has suffered actual harm, had ended up signing up without knowing about the fee, or would’ve signed up if the transaction fee had had a different label.”

Every-Palmer said the problem arose through carelessness not through an intention to deceive.

He said there was no evidence of deliberate deceit.

“I’ve heard today that the commission says the most serious thing here is that general cost recovery, including the cost of processing transactions, was recovered through a transaction fee, that that dwarfs the unobtainable price problem,” Every-Palmer said.

“But there’s simply no evidence that that was a deliberate attempt to mislead people, that that was, in some way, meant to make them think that that was their actually cost of transacting, and there’s simply no evidence that it made any difference to anyone…”

Judge David Clark reserved his decision.

At the time the gym franchise was charged, the commission’s competition, fair trading, and credit general manager Vanessa Horne said a business advertising cheaper than reality prices could give them an unfair advantage over competitors.

“There’s no excuse for false or misleading advertising,” she said.

“This investigation and the charges we have filed should send a clear message – when we see prices that we think are misleading, the commission will act so that businesses are held to account.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: New Zealand Government

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon will depart for Singapore on Sunday for the inaugural Singapore-New Zealand Leadership Forum and meetings with Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and President Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

“Singapore is one of New Zealand’s most important partners in Southeast Asia, and we back each other when it matters, including as global fuel and supply-chain disruptions put pressure on our economies,” Mr Luxon says.

During the visit, Mr Luxon will witness the signing of the Agreement on Trade in Essential Supplies, which will help New Zealand and Singapore keep essential trade flowing in times of crisis and supply-chain disruption.

“With a third of New Zealand’s fuel refined in Singapore, this relationship has a direct bearing on New Zealand’s economic security. Fuel is also part of the regional food-security story – diesel underpins New Zealand’s freight, farming and production systems that keep food moving to Singapore across the region.

“I spoke to Prime Minister Wong a few weeks ago on this matter and look forward to speaking again in person.

“The Forum will bring senior government and business leaders together to deepen trade and investment links, strengthen supply chains, and help both countries build greater resilience in a more uncertain world,” Mr Luxon says.

Mr Luxon will also undertake defence and security engagements in Singapore, returning to New Zealand on 6 May.

Minister of Finance Nicola Willis and Minister for Trade and Investment Todd McClay will accompany the Prime Minister.

MIL OSI

Source: Radio New Zealand

Analysis – National MPs say the coalition is stable, even as they criticise Foreign Minister Winston Peters for releasing emails without notifying the prime minister.

It is the latest in a series of fractures between the coalition parties that have been slowly expanding into cracks.

The question is whether those widening divisions can be sustained right up until the election, even as the parties jostle for dominance in a worsening global economic environment and against an opposition making gains in the polls.

Finance Minister and National deputy Nicola Willis had confidence in the coalition’s stability – but it came with a caveat: “As long as people uphold the principles of the coalition agreement.”

National’s campaign chair Simeon Brown said the coalition was in a good space, “but ultimately our message is that Mr Peters should not be putting politics ahead of the national interest. That’s very clear”.

Former National campaign chair Chris Bishop said the coalition was “a very stable thing, everyone said it would fall apart within a year and here we are six months out from the election and we’re getting things done for New Zealand”.

Mark Mitchell chuckled, saying the coalition was “fine”. Tama Potaka called it “solid”.

But with the cracks spreading, that solidity has been called into question with increasing frequency.

Here’s a look back at the last two weeks where it became clear the election had well and truly begun.

Communications breakdown: Emails and the national interest

Luxon’s office on Thursday said he had told Peters he expected better political judgement from him during a meeting in Peters’ Beehive office the night before.

In an extraordinary slapdown, Luxon said Peters “acknowledged he had made a mistake” by releasing emails showing foreign affairs staff pushing back against the idea of expressing “explicit public support” for the US attack on Iran.

Peters’ office believed doing so would be “imprudent” and “counter to New Zealand’s national interests”, but Luxon’s office said this mischaracterised the views of the prime minister, who was seeking to test New Zealand’s stance against those of Australia and Canada.

By releasing the emails without consulting the prime minister’s office, Peters had “clearly put politics ahead of the national interest”, Luxon’s office said.

Peters admits he should have consulted the PM about the release, but has pushed back on suggestions the emails should not have been released – arguing transparency is, you guessed it, in the national interest.

“In the end, I made the mistake,” Peters said in the afternoon. “We carry the can in our office, we don’t blame others, but funnily enough a couple of my staff are going to be in a training session this afternoon on the matter.”

Willis said releasing the emails without consulting was inconsistent with the no surprises principle and a breach of good faith, calling Peters “very, very confused”, and raising the prospect of that happening again in coalition negotiations.

“The problem with Winston Peters is you never know what you’re going to get.”

Despite his own confidence in the coalition’s stability, Brown said Peters “considers himself a statesman – well the reality is he should operate in a way that respects the office of the prime minister”.

Confidence in caucus and in coalition

It all follows another stain on the coalition agreement, with Peters claiming Luxon’s decision to call a vote of confidence in himself was a breach of that same ‘no surprises’ principle.

National MPs met for more than two hours last Tuesday after poor polling and increasing instances of National MPs leaking anonymously to the media.

Asked on Morning Report if Luxon should have warned him, Peters said it “would have been wise to – yes, of course”.

He said it was an “unprecedented” move from a sitting prime minister, and there would be “consequences”. It didn’t take long for his coalition partners from National to hit back.

Within the hour, Willis launched a broadside, saying Peters was “mischief-making” and he had a “track record of picking Labour over National, and that’s the risk you run with him”.

Luxon also lashed out, using his weekly interview on Newstalk ZB’s The Country to call his foreign minister out for installing Jacinda Ardern as prime minister.

He said had not needed to inform Peters of his confidence vote, because it was not important enough.

That afternoon, ministers on their way to Question Time declared the coalition as strong as ever – with Peters claiming it was as stable as a “three-legged stool”.

Free trade disagreement

Luxon’s criticisms of Peters on The Country also came with a sting in the tail, saying he was trying to “scaremonger” with “anti-immigrant” rhetoric – a reference to Peters’ stance on the free trade agreement with India.

The foreign minister in October had announced New Zealand First’s opposition to the deal just minutes before Luxon and Trade Minister Todd McClay were set to announce it had been finalised.

He has continued to rail against the deal’s investment and immigration provisions, with his deputy Shane Jones in April going further – warning he and his party were “never going to agree with a butter chicken tsunami coming to New Zealand”.

Questioned directly about whether that was racist, Luxon refused to say – only going so far as calling it “unhelpful” and that was certainly true for McClay, who was questioned about it by Indian media when he went to New Delhi to sign the deal this week.

With Peters’ criticisms of the confidence vote still fresh, Willis – in her weekly head-to-head with Labour on Morning Report – denounced the comment and said that was who Labour was “choosing to get into bed” with.

Never mind Labour having gone further than Luxon by calling it racist, and National being currently in coalition with NZ First, Willis has continued with this line – using her general debate speech on Wednesday to talk up the deal, and talk down New Zealand First.

“New Zealand First are on the wrong side of history on this one,” she said. “What we really need to call out in this House – and I want to acknowledge Marama Davidson for doing the same – is the race-based scaremongering that New Zealand First have indulged in.”

She went on to quote Jones, warning in a long preamble that it “will offend this House, it offended me … it has offended New Zealanders of Indian descent up and down this country”.

“Shame on you, Shane Jones. I enjoy working with you around the Cabinet table, but that kind of race-based rhetoric has no place in New Zealand politics,” she said.

Crossing the floor when the Cabinet room won’t do

Wednesday night also brought policy disputes into sharp relief, with a series of opposition party member’s bills that managed to find support from some in the government benches – but not others.

First among them was the Modern Slavery Bill, a joint effort between Labour’s Camilla Belich and National’s Greg Fleming, who said the ACT Party had stopped it going through Cabinet and becoming a government bill.

The topic was identified by Luxon in 2022 as something he would “march in the streets” for.

Another bill – from Labour’s Arena Williams – aimed to make transferring money overseas cheaper by requiring banks to be transparent about fees, got both ACT and NZ First on board.

National was the only party to oppose it, saying there was no need for it because other reforms were making progress on opening up the financial system.

And Green MP Kahurangi Carter’s bill aiming to prevent overdoses by giving amnesty for low-level drug offences to those who call in a suspected overdose or adverse drug reaction passed with ACT’s support – but not National or NZ First.

There was another member’s bill that was on the list for Wednesday but the House did not have time to get to which would ban social media for under-16s, in line with Australia’s approach.

It’s not something the coalition is progressing, with ACT opposing the idea and its MP Parmjeet Parmar complaining a select committee inquiry on it was “predetermined”.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Media Outreach

HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach Newswire – 30 April 2026 – Phancy Group Co., Ltd. (Stock Code: 6682.HK) announced today that it proposes to purchase GPU servers and related accessories at a total consideration of RMB 400 million. The servers are applicable for model inference and training, and will be deployed in the Group’s API business to meet the rapidly growing market demand for API calls.

Phancy’s API business continues to show robust momentum. In Q1 2026, customer Token call volume surged more than 400% compared to Q4 2025, with month-on-month growth multiplying throughout the quarter. The timely deployment of new computing resources will further underpin the sustained and rapid expansion of the business.

Leveraging its leading vGPU technology and extensive experience in large model adaptation, Phancy is able to continuously improve Token call efficiency under the same computing power scale and fully unlock the value of computing resources. This enable the Group to better capture opportunities in the Token economy and establish a solid hardware foundation for large-scale business growth.

This expansion highlights Phancy’s long-term commitment to scaling its computing infrastructure. The Company plans to continue investing to meet the strong growth in its API business and capture opportunities in the Token economy.

Hashtag: #Phancygroup

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

– Published and distributed with permission of Media-Outreach.com.

MIL OSI