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- Visa gets Beijing's green light for bank card business after 40 years of working with China
Visa has received approval from the People's Bank of China to set up a bank card clearing business in mainland China, a move the company calls an important milestone after more than 40 years of work in the market. CEO Ryan McInerney said Visa will take the necessary steps under PBOC rules to begin operating domestically. Visa had applied in May 2020, while American Express was the first to receive its processing license in June 2020 and Mastercard's joint venture began processing payments in 2024. Analyst George Chen of The Asia Group said the timing is notable, as Beijing appears keen to show tangible progress for American businesses before Trump's next visit to China.
- MercadoLibre's Commerce-Fintech Flywheel Gains Strength
MercadoLibre reports growing engagement as its marketplace and Mercado Pago financial services become more connected, with ecosystemic users, who engage with both, up 37% year over year in the second quarter of 2026. These users generated 70% more gross merchandise volume and bought 55% more items per user than marketplace-only users, and their share buying across three or more categories was more than 15 percentage points higher. Total payment volume per ecosystemic user was nearly 90% higher than among fintech-only users, and Mercado Pago credit cardholders were two to three times more likely to stay ecosystemic. MELI+ subscriber growth reached 72% year over year. The article also says the stock rose 1.2% over the past three months, versus 3.1% for the industry, and trades at a forward P/E of 36.83, above the industry average of 20.81.
- Coca-Cola, Visa and Mastercard Hit Records as Investors Rotate Out of Chip Stocks
- 3 Stocks to Watch as Wall Street Wealth Fuels Consumer Spending
U.S. households are increasingly withdrawing from investment accounts to fund spending: such withdrawals nearly doubled as a share of total spending, from 3.5% in April 2019 to 6.8% in April 2026, according to JPMorgan data, funding about 7% of household spending. Stock holdings make up nearly one-third of household assets as of Q1 2026, an all-time high according to the Federal Reserve. Visa benefits from rising card spending and collects fees without lending, but 12.9% of credit card balances were 90 or more days delinquent in Q2 2026 according to the New York Fed, close to the Great Recession record, which is a risk if defaults accelerate. American Express serves higher-income consumers, benefited from a $191 million reserve release on portfolio strength, and is down more than 16% in 2026. Costco reported strong September sales, though some of the revenue appears to come from gasoline.
- Mastercard brings stablecoin balances into traditional banking and card payments
Mastercard has launched Global Money Platform, its first major integration with BVNK since acquiring the stablecoin infrastructure company in August. The platform lets businesses hold and convert fiat currencies and stablecoins, offer stablecoin-linked cards, and pay recipients' local bank accounts directly from stablecoin balances. It connects to Mastercard Move, which can route payments to more than 17 billion destinations, and to Mastercard's merchant network so customers can spend stablecoin balances with payment cards. Nuvei and Marqeta are among the first partners. The move extends Mastercard's role into stablecoin infrastructure and puts it in closer competition with Visa, which launched a similar platform in July. A Standard Chartered study cited in the article points to growing stablecoin transaction activity, even though supplies of USDt and USDC have been relatively flat this year.
- A New Visa Survey Says 56% of Americans Are Open to the Idea of Using Stablecoins. Here's What Crypto Investors Need to Know.
A Visa survey found 36% of U.S. respondents would use stablecoins in the baseline scenario, rising to 56% only when told about bank-level fraud protection and deposit insurance, which do not yet exist. The survey also found that 56% of respondents had never heard of stablecoins. Visa already settles some card payments in stablecoins, with settlement reaching a $20 billion annualized run rate in September, up more than 15-fold in a year. It supports more than 160 stablecoin-linked card programs, whose payment volume nearly tripled over the past year. The article suggests the infrastructure providers, such as Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Circle, may benefit more than the stablecoins themselves.
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- Bank Profits Surge
The 9-month 2026 results show many banks continued to grow profits, with some posting record quarterly earnings. VPBank's pre-tax profit reached nearly VND 30,000 billion, up nearly 47%, equal to its full-year 2025 result and about 72.4% of its 2026 plan; Q3 pre-tax profit topped VND 11,000 billion. Techcombank posted VND 28,900 billion (up 23.7%), while LPBank reported VND 10,421 billion (up nearly 9%). SSI forecasts pre-tax profit of its monitored banks to rise 19.5% in 2026 before slowing to 15.4% in 2027, pressured by narrowing net interest margins and rising credit risk provisions. It also expects system-wide credit growth of 16-17% in 2027 and 17.9% for the monitored banks.
- World's Largest Gold Fund Dumps Over 10 Tonnes of Gold as Prices Slide
SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold fund, continued net selling of nearly 12 tonnes of gold in the 22/10 session, bringing total sales over 2 sessions to nearly 15 tonnes and cutting its holdings to about 1,046 tonnes. Spot gold fell more than 2.8% to around USD 4,025 per ounce at the close of 22/10, and briefly dipped below USD 4,000 per ounce in the morning session of 23/10. Tensions in the Middle East pushed crude oil prices higher, raising concerns about inflation and further Fed tightening, and gold has still not attracted sustained safe-haven demand even as US Treasury yields fell. US September CPI rose 0.6% month on month and 3.7% year on year, while PPI rose 1.3% and 6.3%. Markets price about an 84% chance the Fed holds rates steady at its 27-28/10 meeting and a 16% chance of a 25 basis-point increase; September PCE data due on 29/10 is the next key factor to watch.
- Gold Prices Continue to Fall
On the morning of 23/10, domestic gold prices kept falling, with SJC bar prices varying by seller and the premium over world gold widening. Công ty TNHH Vàng bạc đá quý Sài Gòn listed SJC bars at VND 139-142 million per tael (buy-sell), down VND 300,000; Phú Quý was at VND 138-141.8 million, down VND 500,000; and Mi Hồng at VND 140-141.5 million, down VND 800,000. Gold rings also fell by varying amounts, with DOJI at VND 138-142 million and Phú Quý at VND 138-141 million per tael. World gold dropped USD 129 to around USD 3,992 per ounce, equal to about VND 125.3 million per tael, leaving SJC bars about VND 16.7 million per tael above the world price. The State Bank's central rate was set at 25,627 VND/USD, down 5 dong, while Vietcombank quoted 25,660-26,040 VND/USD (buy-sell).
- Company Linked to Billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong Announces Major Good News
VEFAC (ticker VEF), a Vingroup subsidiary, posted Q3 net revenue of nearly VND 77 billion, up 67% year on year, but a gross loss of about VND 27 billion as cost of sales from its exhibition business exceeded revenue. Q3 profit rose mainly thanks to a gross gain of about VND 65 billion from transferring some schools in a project to a partner, while financial income reached over VND 388 billion, mostly from loan and investment income. For the first nine months of 2026, after-tax profit was nearly VND 865 billion, down about 94% from VND 15,418 billion in the same period of 2025, as the prior year included large gains from transferring part of the Vinhomes Global Gate project. As of 30/9/2026, total assets stood at over VND 31,905 billion, up 36% from the start of the year, while total liabilities exceeded VND 24,364 billion, with short-term customer advances rising from VND 411 billion to over VND 8,373 billion.
- Lotte and Phat Dat Officially Break Ground on VND 60,000 Billion Mega Project in Thu Thiem 'Golden Land'
A joint venture between Lotte Group (South Korea) and Phát Đạt (HoSE: PDR) officially broke ground on 23/10 on Lotte Eco Smart City Thu Thiem in the Thu Thiem New Urban Area, HCMC, with total investment of about VND 60,000 billion. The project covers nearly 7.5 ha and will combine Grade A offices, retail, services, accommodation and housing, adjoining the central plaza and central lake of Thu Thiem. Phát Đạt holds 35% of Lotte Properties HCMC, the project developer, and will develop the housing blocks along with two towers (2-1 and 2-3) with about 219,722 m2 of floor area, while Lotte handles block 2-5. Lotte Properties HCMC paid VND 17,569 billion in land-use fees on 31/7/2026, and Phát Đạt completed its VND 7,666 billion payment to take its 35% stake. MB is funding all of Phát Đạt's capital contribution, while VietinBank and BIDV also support the project.
- International Business : Global stocks nosedive as Meta dents AI optimism
Global stocks retreated as tech earnings failed to ease concerns about the AI outlook, with MSCI's All-World index set for its largest daily fall in two weeks, down 0.4 per cent. Meta beat third-quarter revenue expectations, but its plan to issue non-voting stock revived worries about its mounting capital commitments, and a New Mexico judge ordered it to pay a $25 billion penalty in a data privacy case. Brent crude rose nearly 3% to $112 a barrel, near a five-month high, after more Houthi attacks in Saudi Arabia raised supply risks. Investors moved into government bonds, pushing the US 10-year yield down to 5.05%, below France's for the first time in 13 years, while French yields have climbed above 5% amid concerns over social unrest and debt. The France-Germany 10-year spread reached 177.7 basis points, its widest since 2011, while gold fell 1.8% to $4,070 an ounce.
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