What conversations at the 140th Canton Fair reveal about market expansion, working capital and the growing role of stablecoins in cross-border commerce.

HONG KONG, Nov. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Ask an exporter walking the halls of the third phase of the 140th Canton Fair who their buyers are this year, and the answer looks different than it did five years ago. Alongside familiar names from Western Europe and North America are buyers from across the Middle East, South Asia, and North Africa, sourcing footwear, apparel, auto parts and medical devices in volumes that have stopped being a side conversation.

A garment exporter describing growing order volume into South Asian markets. A newly verified auto parts buyer placing orders out of North Africa. A travel platform at the fair asking not for a product demo but for an API integration. None of these are isolated anecdotes. They describe where a meaningful share of demand at this fair is actually coming from, and that map is shifting faster than the financial infrastructure built to serve it.

Real Demand, a Financial Network Still Catching Up

The conventional narrative treats these markets as marginal because they are harder to serve. That framing gets the problem backwards. The difficulty is not a lack of buying power. It is that the financial plumbing connecting these corridors to suppliers has not caught up with the demand now moving through them. Correspondent banking networks reaching into these regions tend to be thinner, local currency convertibility is often inconsistent, and a conventional wire transfer can take days to clear with fees that are hard to predict in advance.

That is why, in booth-side conversations this year, buyers increasingly ask less about price and more about settlement: whether there is a stablecoin channel, whether a direct API integration is possible. That is not a crypto preference showing up at a trade fair. It is a search for certainty, in corridors where the conventional banking system does not offer much of it.

The categories at the center of this phase of the fair, apparel, footwear, auto parts and medical devices, mostly run on tight seasonal production calendars oriented around year-end demand. Factories commit to raw materials and labor well before a buyer’s final payment clears. When settlement with a new, geographically distant buyer takes several days to move through multiple correspondent banks, that is not a minor inconvenience. It is a direct hit to how much working capital a factory can keep in motion during its busiest quarter.

The real risk for these exporters is no longer simply whether a buyer will pay. It is whether the payment will land fast enough to keep production and shipping on schedule. In a quarter with zero slack in the calendar, a payment delay and a cash flow problem are the same thing.

Two Rails, One System

This is the specific problem PhotonPay’s infrastructure is built to close. Its multi-asset wallet holds fiat currencies and stablecoins together, rather than treating them as separate systems a business has to manage on its own. Local collection capabilities span more than twenty currencies, giving exporters a way to receive payment close to where their buyers actually are. Integrated on- and off-ramp services connect fiat and stablecoins directly, 24/7 foreign exchange removes the constraint of banking hours, and global payouts in fiat or stablecoin reach more than 200 countries and territories.

The need for connected financial infrastructure extends beyond businesses managing their own cross-border transactions. Travel platforms, cross-border ERP providers and other technology businesses are increasingly looking to integrate financial services directly into their products and workflows. Through its embedded finance capabilities, PhotonPay enables platforms to incorporate global accounts, payments and card issuing without having to build the underlying financial infrastructure themselves. The company now works with more than 100 enterprise and platform partners, extending its Financial OS into a broader range of business applications.

PhotonPay recently closed a US$40 million Series C round to accelerate the development of its stablecoin-centric Financial Operating System (Financial OS). The new capital will support the expansion of its multi-asset wallet capabilities, global card issuing and local clearing infrastructure in key markets, as well as the development of an agent-ready financial execution layer. Together, these investments will strengthen the infrastructure connecting global liquidity with local financial networks, while preparing the platform for increasingly automated financial workflows.

As the buyer base for exporters expands into a wider range of markets, the ability to move money efficiently will become an increasingly important part of global competitiveness. Businesses need more than access to new buyers; they need financial infrastructure that allows them to collect, convert and deploy capital across borders with greater flexibility. Trade routes are expanding. The financial infrastructure supporting them needs to keep pace.

About PhotonPay

Founded in Hong Kong in 2015, PhotonPay is a global fintech company building a next-generation, stablecoin-centric Financial Operating System (Financial OS). Its API-first architecture brings together multi-asset wallets supporting stablecoins and fiat currencies, global money movement, foreign exchange, global card issuing, embedded finance, and local clearing infrastructure, connecting digital and traditional financial rails within an integrated financial system.

PhotonPay operates 16 offices worldwide, employs nearly 600 people, and holds 34 payment and financial licenses and regulatory authorizations across the Americas, Europe and Asia. The company serves businesses across more than 200 countries and territories.

For more information, visit www.photonpay.com.

Disclaimer

This material is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, regulatory, tax, accounting, or investment advice, nor an offer or solicitation for any product or service. The availability, features, and regulatory treatment of PhotonPay’s products and services may vary depending on the user’s location, business model, and the laws and regulations that apply. Any descriptions of functionality, performance, efficiency, cost savings, or compliance support (including, without limitation, references to “real‑time”, “24/7”, “high‑efficiency”, or “compliant” solutions) are aspirational or forward‑looking in nature. Actual outcomes may differ due to market conditions, technological constraints, and regulatory developments, and PhotonPay makes no express or implied representation, warranty, or guarantee as to the achievement of any particular result.

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SOURCE PhotonPay

PRAGUE, Nov. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Finshape has launched Agentic DBOS (ADBOS), adding agentic AI to its established Digital Bank Operating System (DBOS). The solution helps banks analyse, design, develop, test and launch digital services faster, while helping them understand customer needs, deliver hyper-personalised interactions and improve customer servicing.

ADBOS is already in use, including in projects for OTP Group. Finshape’s delivery team uses ADBOS agents in its daily work, and the first digital application developed with their support is now in production. In recent Finshape projects, initial production versions of digital services went live in 6–7 months using ADBOS, compared with 9–12 months for comparable MVPs developed previously.

Banks can benefit from faster delivery, better user and customer experiences, lower servicing costs and new revenue opportunities. But in a highly regulated industry, AI must be predictable, auditable and firmly under banks’ control. ADBOS builds on DBOS, used by more than 100 banks worldwide, and Finshape’s three decades of banking expertise. Its AI agents work with banking platforms already in place.

“ADBOS marks a turning point for Finshape and for our clients. It’s a new way for banks to build, launch and scale digital experiences, faster and smarter than ever before. Banks don’t need another layer of technology. They need a foundation built for what comes next. ADBOS is that foundation. It gives banks the speed, intelligence and control to compete on their own terms.”

— Neil Budd, CEO, Finshape

“The project is progressing at a strong pace, and the close cooperation between our teams has played an important role in that. We are happy with the way we are working together and with the results delivered so far, and we look forward to building on this momentum.”

— András Sebők, CIO, OTP Bank

About Finshape

Finshape provides digital banking solutions backed by more than 36 years of experience. Its 600-plus employees support 116 banking clients across 44 countries, helping financial institutions accelerate digital transformation, improve operational efficiency and strengthen digital customer interactions.

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Multi-year engagement spans software, hardware and validation services for next-generation telematics control units

BENGALURU, India, Nov. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Sasken Technologies Ltd. (BSE: 532663) (NSE: SASKEN), a global leader in product engineering and embedded software solutions, today announced a multi-year engineering engagement with the software company of a leading European automotive group. Under the programme, Sasken will provide software development, systems integration, hardware engineering and validation services to support the development and commercialisation of next-generation telematics control units (TCUs) for global vehicle platforms. The engagement further strengthens Sasken’s position as a trusted engineering partner for connected, software-defined vehicles.

As the automotive industry accelerates its transition toward software-defined vehicles, telematics platforms have become a critical foundation for connected services, over-the-air updates, diagnostics, fleet management, cybersecurity and future mobility applications. The programme leverages Sasken’s expertise across cellular technologies, modem platforms, embedded software, hardware engineering, system validation and connected mobility solutions to accelerate product readiness and deployment across multiple international markets.

The engagement validates Sasken’s chip-to-cognition approach by bringing together capabilities across silicon platforms, connectivity technologies, embedded systems, hardware design and large-scale validation. This end-to-end engineering capability enables Sasken to support customers from platform architecture and hardware development through software integration, testing and commercial deployment.

The programme will involve close collaboration between Sasken and customer engineering teams across hardware design, software development, integration and validation activities. The joint focus will be on delivering production-grade telematics solutions that meet the performance, quality and reliability requirements of global vehicle programmes.

Speaking about the engagement, Tero Pernu, Head of Business, Finland & EU, Sasken Technologies, said:

“This engagement demonstrates the customer’s confidence in Sasken’s ability to support complex automotive connectivity programmes spanning hardware, software and validation domains. Modern telematics platforms are becoming increasingly central to the connected vehicle experience, requiring deep expertise across multiple technology layers. By combining our automotive engineering capabilities with advanced connectivity and product development expertise, we will help accelerate the delivery of next-generation telematics solutions to global markets. We look forward to building a long-term strategic collaboration and creating measurable value throughout the programme lifecycle.”

Reliable connectivity is a key enabler of modern vehicle services and future mobility experiences. Sasken contributes deep expertise in telematics platforms, cellular technologies, product engineering, and validation, supporting the development and deployment of next-generation TCU platforms across global markets. This collaboration is expected to play an important role in enabling advanced connected mobility solutions and delivering seamless user experiences worldwide.

Speaking on the occasion, Rajiv C. Mody, Chairperson, Managing Director and CEO, Sasken Technologies, said:

“The automotive industry is undergoing one of the most significant transformations in its history as vehicles become increasingly connected, intelligent and software-driven. This strategic engagement highlights Sasken’s ability to support global OEMs in delivering complex product engineering programmes that span hardware, software and connectivity domains. It further strengthens our position as a partner of choice for connected mobility innovation and reinforces our long-term growth strategy in the automotive sector.”

The programme will be delivered through Sasken’s global engineering organisation, combining specialised automotive expertise in Europe with the company’s broader product engineering capabilities. The engagement expands Sasken’s automotive footprint and supports continued growth in connected mobility, next-generation connectivity solutions and software-defined vehicle technologies.

About Sasken Technologies

Sasken Technologies is a global leader in Product Engineering and Embedded Software, delivering concept-to-market and chip-to-cognition R&D solutions across semiconductors, automotive, industrials, consumer electronics, smart devices, satellite communications, telecom and transportation. For more than 36 years, Sasken has supported over 100 Fortune 500 companies and powered more than a billion devices worldwide. With engineering and delivery centres in India, Finland, Germany, Japan, China and the United States, Sasken helps customers solve complex engineering challenges across the product lifecycle.

For more information, visit www.sasken.com.

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SOURCE Sasken Technologies