Three shifts shaping APAC financial services in 2026

AI, specialised financial hubs, and cross-border connectivity are creating new opportunities and operating demands for middle-market financial firms

Key takeaways:

AI-driven growth is reshaping regional investment priorities, with capital moving into the systems and capacity needed to support the technology.

APAC financial centres are becoming more specialised as businesses distribute functions across multiple hubs.

Greater financial connectivity is increasing the need for stronger controls, governance, and operational resilience.

Asia Pacific (APAC) continues to outpace global growth. The International Monetary Fund projects the region to grow by 4.4% in 2026 compared with its global forecast of 3.0%. Against that backdrop, several trends are changing the region’s financial landscape.

AI adoption is influencing where capital is directed, businesses are distributing financial functions across specialist hubs, and cross-border payment systems are linking economies more closely. For middle-market financial services firms, each creates opportunities, but also new operational and risk management demands.

AI demand is directing capital towards data, power, and capacity

AI is shaping investment beyond the technology sector. Caesar Parlade, Managing Partner for Advisory and Digital Transformation at RSM in the Philippines, says: “Across APAC, capital is increasingly being directed not by traditional industry classifications but by structural investment themes shaped by artificial intelligence, energy security, supply-chain resilience, and demographic growth.”

This shift broadens the range of businesses and projects that need funding, risk management, and advisory support.

“Capital is most actively directed toward manufacturing diversification tied to supply-chain restructuring, digital infrastructure such as data centres driven by AI demand and, selectively, industries adjacent to semiconductors. Logistics and healthcare also remain consistent destinations for expansion.”
Takuma Kinjo
Senior Partner and CPA
Japan – RSM Seiwa

China provides another example of how AI investment is creating demand across multiple sectors. Yuki Chen, Partner at RSM in China, says current investment attention is “primarily in AI and the infrastructure around the industry. That means areas such as energy and electricity, including storage, are also attracting significant attention from financial institutions.”

Despite the scale of AI investment, financial institutions are taking a discerning approach to it. Chow Khen Seng, Partner & Industry Lead – Financial Services Practice at RSM in Singapore, sees that caution particularly clearly in investment management. “For now, it is very cautious because we are at an inflection point,” he says.

“With AI, everyone is being careful. There is a big focus on it and significant capital spend, but technological change and geopolitical challenges mean the general sentiment, at least in Singapore, is cautiously optimistic.”
Chow Khen Seng
Partner & Industry Lead – Financial Services Practice
Singapore

Singapore anchors an increasingly distributed APAC financial network

Another shift is taking place in how businesses use financial centres. Rather than treating the region as a contest between competing hubs, organisations are distributing different functions according to what individual markets can provide.

“The key trend we have seen is not the rise of one financial centre over another, but the emergence of a multi-hub APAC operating model. Rather than concentrating treasury, capital markets, risk management, and transaction banking activities in a single regional headquarters, organisations are increasingly locating functions in the jurisdictions best aligned to their strategic objectives.”
Pushpinder Singh
Partner – Risk Advisory
Australia

Singapore remains a significant part of that architecture. Pushpinder Singh, Partner, Risk Advisory at RSM in Australia, says it “consistently remains the benchmark against which other jurisdictions are evaluated” because of its regulatory stability. This is reinforced by its mature financial services ecosystem and a deep pool of experienced finance and treasury professionals. Yet companies can retain Singapore as a regional anchor while using Hong Kong for China-linked capital, Tokyo for Japanese financing, or Sydney for infrastructure and capital markets activity.

“Singapore remains an important regional hub, but from a Japanese perspective we are seeing a more distributed model emerge. Japanese companies may retain regional treasury functions in Singapore, while using Tokyo for domestic financing and capital markets access, and locating operational functions closer to growth markets across Asia.”
Kengo Maekawa
Founder & CEO
Japan – RSM Shiodome Partners

Businesses using these centres are considering how different locations can work together. Singh says the objective is to build “a regional financial ecosystem that balances efficiency, resilience, and growth” with individual hubs performing complementary roles.

Payment interoperability is advancing

Cross-border payments are becoming faster and easier across APAC, creating more opportunities for middle-market financial services firms to support clients in multiple countries. However, businesses must still manage different regulatory requirements and payment standards across the region.

Parlade stresses that developments in ASEAN’s current payment interoperability should be understood as “payments integration rather than coming up with a uniform currency.” National currencies remain in place while the infrastructure connecting them becomes more efficient. He argues that the approach differs significantly from the European model because it does not require a single currency or common ownership of the underlying institutions.

“The integration itself is happening bilaterally between institutions, but the ultimate goal is to create a hub for that payment integration through Nexus. It is still at an early stage, but the concept is very promising provided the countries can agree on the governance. Everyone involved will have to agree on the standards.”
Caesar Parlade
Managing Partner for Advisory and Digital Transformation
Philippines

With payment systems linking across borders, their advantages are becoming more tangible for businesses. Kinjo says that for Japanese SMEs in the region, “fast, low-cost settlement is becoming a baseline expectation rather than a competitive advantage”, with payment improvements beginning to influence how businesses approach collections and commercial terms.

The push for easier cross-border activity also extends beyond payments. Maekawa argues that “greater harmonisation of listing and disclosure standards across APAC exchanges would reduce compliance costs” for companies operating in several jurisdictions, while deeper local-currency bond markets could reduce currency exposure for middle-market issuers.

Greater connectivity also invites risk

The financial benefits of a more connected region are accompanied by cross-border risks. Beenu Fernando, Partner – Risk Advisory at RSM in Australia, argues that traditional distinctions between risk and control functions are becoming less useful.

“AML, sanctions, cyber, fraud, and operational resilience risks are no longer discrete compliance or technology matters,” she says. “They are converging business risks, intensified by faster capital flows, outsourced service models, and increasingly sophisticated criminal networks.”

For financial institutions and investors, this means assessing and managing risks in a more joined-up way. A single cyber incident can enable payment diversion or fraud while simultaneously impairing the systems needed to detect suspicious activity. Fernando argues that cyber resilience, AML analytics, fraud monitoring, and business continuity increasingly need to operate as “one connected response model.”

“Cyber risk is now a financial crime and resilience risk. The issue is not only the breach itself, but the potential cascade into service disruption, regulatory obligations, fraud losses, and erosion of customer trust.”
Beenu Fernando
Partner - Risk Advisory
Australia

As regulators scrutinise how financial institutions manage new technology and financial crime risks, firms need stronger evidence that their controls work in practice.

“We are seeing broader assurance opportunities emerge in areas such as anti-money laundering and AI internal controls. These are areas where financial institutions will increasingly need stronger controls and assurance as technology and regulatory expectations continue to evolve.”
Yuki Chen
Partner
China

Regional growth increasingly depends on operating capability

With APAC’s growth forecasts remaining positive, capital is moving towards AI-related sectors, financial functions are being distributed across specialist hubs, and cross-border financial activity is becoming more connected. Middle-market firms must respond to each of these trends while maintaining strong operations and controls.

Firms that combine financing expertise, regional capabilities, efficient cross-border services, and robust risk management will be better placed to support clients and capture growth across APAC.