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EBANX advances emerging market infrastructure with Pakistan expansion in motion and native Apple Pay decryption

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Following five country launches earlier this year, EBANX prepares operations in Pakistan with local wallets and instant-payment rail integrations, while launching native Apple Pay decryption across Latin America

SINGAPORE, Sept. 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — At its annual Payments Summit, EBANX, a global technology company specializing in payment services for emerging markets, unveiled a new wave of product launches and geographic roadmap expansions, doubling down on its drive to solve payment complexity and unlock merchant growth. Among the new offerings, the company added Pakistan to its operations portfolio for the next semester, and a native decryption architecture for Apple Pay across Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Summit, now in its ninth year, wrapped its APAC chapter in South Korea earlier this month and is running its global edition in Costa Rica through Friday, the 25th.  

“Solving complexity is the very core of what we do. Our expertise is transforming operational challenges into scalable growth for our merchants,” said João Del Valle, CEO and Co-founder of EBANX. “This is the underlying logic behind our moves, whether expanding into a new market or delivering advanced technological architecture.”

Mobile-first and a double-digit growth opportunity in Pakistan

Following the addition of Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Türkiye to its footprint in 2026, EBANX is preparing its payment operations in Pakistan for the next semester. The first alternative payment methods (APMs) to be offered are the local wallets JazzCash and Easypaisa, each reporting more than 50 million users. Next will be Raast, Pakistan’s rapidly growing national instant-payment rail. Data from the State Bank of Pakistan shows that Raast transaction volume nearly doubled in a year, going from 371.2 million in Q3 FY25 to 742.1 million in Q3 FY26.

EBANX selected the country as its next frontier due to strong merchant demand and structural market complexity. According to World Data Lab (WDL) data analyzed by EBANX, Pakistan’s e-commerce spending is projected to grow at an average rate of 22% annually (2026-2030). 

With this high CAGR, the country is on track to more than triple its online market size over the decade. Pakistani Gen Z (ages 15–30 in 2026), especially, is experiencing a massive digital boom. Their spending on Video Gaming, Streaming, and Social Media is projected to grow at 17% annually through 2036—but credit card ownership among this cohort is below 10%.

“Pakistan is a classic mobile-first market where smartphone ownership runs 20 to 40 percentage points ahead of card ownership. This makes local account-based payment methods, bank transfers, and digital wallets the key to winning market share,” said Eduardo de Abreu, CPO of EBANX and regional CEO of EBANX Singapore. “This payment fragmentation is challenging for global businesses, but bridging local payment infrastructure with global merchant needs is precisely what we have specialized in for over a decade.”

Since its founding in Brazil in 2012, out of the necessity of global brands to connect with consumers and businesses through the Brazilian bank slip Boleto, EBANX has gone global, offering 400+ rails, 200+ payment methods, and processing over 4 million transactions per day. 

Apple Pay: EBANX decrypts in-house, so merchants don’t have to

Starting in September, EBANX is rolling out a new operating model for Apple Pay that shifts the entire token decryption layer in-house. Under this setup, EBANX receives and decrypts encrypted Apple Pay tokens directly, managing certificates, security keys, and end-to-end PCI DSS compliance within its own infrastructure rather than requiring merchants to handle decryption.

“The result is less burden for merchants and faster, safer, more seamless transaction flows, with EBANX owning the full end-to-end cardholder journey inside our acquiring stack,” explained Abreu. 

Apple Pay is a tokenized digital wallet that uses a debit or credit card as the underlying payment credential. With this new offering, EBANX—the only PSP with local acquiring across all 11 Latin American and Caribbean markets where Apple Pay operates—simplifies merchants’ operations while maintaining full end-to-end PCI DSS compliance within its acquiring infrastructure. 

Early production data underscores the model’s performance impact: tokenized wallet processing delivered an 11-percentage-point uplift in approval rates compared to non-tokenized card transactions, reaching 94.4%. Average Order Value (AOV) ran 23.5% higher than standard card purchases, reflecting strong alignment with high-intent digital consumers. 

“We have already built a successful partnership with Apple Pay in Brazil. Now, we are taking the most sophisticated version of that architecture across Latin America, from Guatemala to Argentina, for both one-time and recurring transactions,” said Del Valle. 

According to Payment and Commerce Market Intelligence (PCMI) data sourced by EBANX, tokenized wallets already represent approximately 25% of e-commerce card volume in Brazil, 20% in Chile, 16% in Mexico, 15% in Colombia, 13% in Argentina, and 9% in Peru.

Payments Summit

Hosted by EBANX, the Payments Summit brings together global leaders across payments and digital commerce to examine high-growth emerging markets. Grounded in real-world merchant case studies, market intelligence, and executive discussions, the forum spotlights the structural trends shaping digital economies across Latin America, Africa, and Asia. In 2026, the program featured an APAC edition in Jeju Island, South Korea, in partnership with Mastercard, alongside a Global edition in Guanacaste, Costa Rica, in partnership with Citi.

ABOUT EBANX

EBANX is the leading technology platform connecting global businesses to the world’s fastest-growing digital markets. Founded in 2012 in Brazil, EBANX was built with a mission to expand access to international digital commerce. Leveraging proprietary technology, deep market expertise, and robust infrastructure, the platform enables global businesses to offer hundreds of local payment methods and streamline cross-border payments across Latin America, Africa, and Asia. With a global footprint, it established a technology and regulatory headquarters in Singapore in 2026. More than just payments, EBANX drives growth, enhances sales, and delivers seamless purchase experiences for businesses and end users alike.

For further information, please visit:
Website: https://ebanx.com/en/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ebanx

Media Contact: 
Shan Huang | AHG Strategies
shan.huang@ahgstrategies.com
www.ahgstrategies.com

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SOURCE EBANX

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Applied Quantum Software Brings AQS FabriQ to IBM Quantum Network

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Quantum finance company Applied Quantum Software is bringing the AQS FabriQ quantum software development platform to the industry-leading IBM Quantum Network.

SAN MATEO, Calif., Sept. 25, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — San Francisco Bay Area-based quantum software company Applied Quantum Software (AQS) has announced that it has joined the IBM Quantum Network startup program. The IBM Quantum Network is a global community of more than 325 member organizations working to advance quantum computing and explore practical applications across industries. Members of the IBM Quantum Network have access to a range of IBM quantum computers, software, and other resources.

“A recent study by McKinsey indicates that quantum computing is expected to deliver roughly half a trillion dollars in economic value to the finance sector by 2035. AQS will help bring this timeline forward.”

Applied Quantum Software works with a variety of organizations, especially finance companies, to develop software algorithms optimized for near-term quantum computers. The company has created AQS FabriQ, an easy-to-use software development platform. The platform includes data integration, quantum computer and simulator integration, and benchmarking capabilities. AQS FabriQ supports the creation and deployment of native quantum and quantum-inspired software alongside their classical counterparts.

Applied Quantum Software founder Tom Finke commented, “A recent study by McKinsey indicates that quantum computing is expected to deliver roughly half a trillion dollars in economic value to the finance sector by 2035. Published papers, as well as our efforts at AQS, represent solid progress on the journey toward quantum advantage for finance. By engaging directly with leading quantum computing providers such as IBM, by empowering customers via AQS FabriQ, and through cutting-edge work on relevant algorithms, AQS will help bring this timeline forward.”

AQS offers organizations access to AQS FabriQ for exploratory efforts, including the opportunity to use IBM Heron and IBM Nighthawk quantum processing units (QPUs) available over the cloud, alongside the open source Qiskit software development kit, Qiskit Runtime, and OpenQASM.

About Applied Quantum Software

Applied Quantum Software (AQS) is a quantum-finance software company headquartered in San Mateo, California. AQS FabriQ is a platform enabling quantitative teams to catalog financial datasets and use cases, run quantum and quantum-inspired algorithms, and rigorously benchmark them against the best classical methods for applications in finance. Learn more at https://aqs.one.

Media Contact

Floyd smith, Applied Quantum Software, 1 510-290-2227, floyd@aqs.one, www.aqs.one

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SOURCE Applied Quantum Software

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CGTN: Why the world is watching the Xi-Trump meeting: Steering China-US ties, shaping the future

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CGTN published an article on Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to the United States. Drawing on the stories of young Americans who have engaged with China and Xi’s latest announcement inviting 100,000 young Americans to China over the next five years, the article highlights how head-of-state diplomacy is shaping the direction of China-US ties while examining the broader global significance of cooperation between the two countries.

BEIJING, Sept. 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — For Marlon Forrester and Joey Zhang, a letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping brought an unexpected reply.

The two were among nearly 100 students from 10 US universities who recently participated in youth exchanges in China. After the trip, they wrote to Xi to share what they had seen and experienced. A reply arrived on the eve of Xi’s state visit to the United States.

In an exclusive interview with CGTN, Forrester, a Harvard faculty member, and Zhang, a Columbia University student, said the experience made them feel part of a new generation carrying forward exchanges between the two countries. They described Xi’s engagement with young people as “planting seeds” and “laying a foundation” for future exchanges.

There may be many more such stories ahead. At a White House welcome ceremony on September 24, Xi announced that China will invite 100,000 young Americans to visit China for exchanges and study over the next five years.

This commitment highlights how high-level decisions translate into the real-life experiences of ordinary people and further illustrates why the world is watching as China and the US shape the future of their relationship.

Steering the course of China-US ties

Frequent interactions between Xi and US President Donald Trump in 2026 have steadily steered the giant ship of China-US relations forward.

During a phone call in February, Xi and Trump agreed to “accomplish more big things and good things,” with Xi urging both nations to make 2026 a year of advancing toward mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation.

Three months later, Trump visited China. The two presidents spent nearly nine hours together and reached a milestone political consensus to build “a constructive China-US relationship of strategic stability.”

For Xi, setting the direction is only the beginning. “Building a constructive China-US relationship of strategic stability is neither an expedient measure nor something that can be achieved overnight,” he told Trump in Washington, calling on both sides to implement their consensus with the “spirit of driving the nail.”

That effort is reflected in flourishing people-to-people ties. From students at Lincoln High School in Washington State to youth groups from Maryland and Florida, Xi has repeatedly responded to letters and encouraged young people to become a new generation of friendship envoys.

Economic ties offer another solid foundation. According to China’s Ministry of Commerce, as of July 2026, US companies had established over 84,000 foreign-invested enterprises in China, with investment growing 7.8% year on year in the first half of the year. A survey of 175 US companies by the US-China Business Council revealed that 95% viewed their China operations as vital to global competitiveness.

Responsibility extending beyond two countries

The stakes of the China-US relationship extend far beyond Beijing and Washington.

At the White House, Xi said “China-US cooperation may not solve every problem in the world. But, without our cooperation, it would be hard to solve many of the world’s problems.”

He called on both sides to “lengthen the list of cooperation, and shorten the list of issues,” pointing to areas ranging from trade and investment to artificial intelligence, counternarcotics, law enforcement and direct flights.

Sun Taiyi, an associate professor at Christopher Newport University, noted that bilateral cooperation reduces market uncertainty, manages tech risks, and improves crisis communication. “Even limited cooperation can generate important positive spillovers for global stability.”

AI governance is drawing particular global focus. “Both China and the United States are leading nations in artificial intelligence,” Xi said in the meeting, emphasizing their shared responsibility to ensure AI remains “under human control and serves the well-being of the people.”

Wang Honggang, director of the Institute of Peaceful Development at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, added that joint AI governance would be a prime example of China-US cooperation benefiting the world.

Global public opinion reflects these stakes. A CGTN survey across 39 countries showed that 75% of respondents – rising to 78.3% in developing nations – consider stable China-US relations vital to the international community.

With China hosting the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting and the US hosting the G20 Summit this year, global focus will closely follow how the two leaders interact, sustain communication, and expand cooperation.

As Xi put it in his White House speech, “China and the United States, as two major countries, shoulder a historic responsibility of advancing human development and progress.”

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2026-09-25/Why-the-world-is-watching-the-Xi-Trump-meeting-1QIgAZq6BMY/p.html 

SOURCE CGTN

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ICAC and UNODC’s pioneering international anti-graft training brings together law enforcers worldwide to combat illicit enrichment

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HONG KONG, Sept. 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The ICAC, the Hong Kong International Academy Against Corruption, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Global Operational Network of Anti-Corruption Law Enforcement Authorities (GlobE Network) jointly organised the pioneering “Professional Development Programme on Unmasking Hidden Wealth: Strengthening Investigations into Illicit Enrichment” from September 7 to 16, drawing participation of 35 graft-fighters and law enforcers from 19 jurisdictions to expound on investigation of illicit enrichment crimes.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the programme, Acting Commissioner Mr Ricky Yau Shu-chun said, “Illicit enrichment strikes at the heart of public trust and institutional integrity. When public officials accumulate unlawful wealth, it deprives communities of vital development opportunities. Graft fighters must crack down this crime to restore justice, uphold accountability, and safeguard economic foundations. Tracing, exposing, and recovering illicit assets of public officials is far more than a technical skill, it is the fundamental imperative for safeguarding the rule of law and preserving the integrity of the global financial architecture.”

Yau also noted that investigators worldwide required advanced and forward-looking learning opportunities to tackle illicit enrichment. He encouraged participants to share their diverse experiences and forge the professional networks to unmask hidden wealth for advancing a just and equitable world.

Chief Law Enforcement and Strategic Networks Section of the UNODC, Mr Neil Walsh, said in the ceremony that investigators’ ability to track, freeze and recover illicit enrichment is of utmost importance. He anticipated that the strategic partnership between the UNODC and the ICAC would help various law enforcement agencies nurture new experience, thus enabling better investigation and intelligence.

The 10-day course is a specialised training co-hosted by the ICAC and the UNODC with a focus on specific corruption area. Previous courses co-organised include the “Professional Development Programme on Financial Investigation and Asset Recovery” and “Professional Development Programme on Empowering Integrity: Mastering Artificial Intelligence & Technologies in Anti-Corruption“, etc. The present course focused on the exchange and application of investigation experience. Through seminars, case studies and exchanges, directorates and forensic accountants of the Commission examined relevant legal frameworks, tracing of illicit assets, modus operandi of money laundering, crypto-related crimes and relevant preventive measures with course participants.

Speakers from international organisations, academics and industry experts were invited for professional knowledge sharing. While the Basel Institute on Governance from Switzerland examined the strategies and practical challenges in tracing illicit assets, the Hong Kong Jockey Club shared their insights on preventing money laundering of crime proceeds from gambling. Moreover, the City University of Hong Kong illustrated the criminal psychology of illicit enrichment, and blockchain specialist expounded on tracing crime proceeds in crypto transactions, etc. Participants became well-versed in illicit enrichment investigation, asset tracing, latest financial crime trend and application of effective investigative skills.

The course also featured a four-day study tour to Guangzhou, during which participants visited relevant law enforcement agency and large enterprises, gaining first-hand experience on how to identify, manage and investigate illicit enrichment, as well as corresponding measures and practical challenges in law enforcement, etc. Participants also visited the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, where participants exchanged with legislative councillors over the work on the fight against corruption and asset recovery.

The training attracted middle and senior management officials from law enforcement departments and policymakers from 19 countries and regions, including Indonesia, Kuwait, Madagascar, Malta, Mauritius, Mongolia, Montenegro, Nigeria, Oman, Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, Tonga and Ukraine. Also attending the programme are officials from the Guangdong Provincial Commission of Supervision, the UNODC Regional Corruption and Financial Crime Hub for South-East Asia and the Pacific, the Commission Against Corruption of Macao SAR, the Hong Kong Police Force, the Customs and Excise Department, the Securities and Futures Commission and the Hong Kong Jockey Club.

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SOURCE The Independent Commission Against Corruption of Hong Kong, China

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