Krungsri Group's subsidiary Krungsri Finnovate has announced a joint venture investment plan with MUFG Innovation Partners (MUIP) for 2022-23, aiming to establish three new unicorns in the portfolio.
A customer uses an e-wallet app to order food in a cashless transaction at a food stall in Singapore. The number of mobile wallets in use will grow 311% from 2020 to almost 440 million by 2025 across Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, reflecting an e-commerce boom, according to a global study on the industry. Bloomberg
South-East Asia is the world’s fastest-growing region for mobile wallets, followed by Latin America and Africa & Middle East, research from London-based fintech company Boku Inc shows.
The number of mobile wallets in use will grow 311% from 2020 to almost 440 million by 2025 across Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, reflecting an e-commerce boom, according to a global study on the industry, which was published on Thursday in partnership with Juniper Research Ltd. The usage in Latin America is set to expand 166% during the same period, while that in Africa and Middle East will grow 147%.
Singapore robo adviser Endowus, which says it’s on track to achieve S$1 billion (US$745.36 million) of assets under advisement after two years, is looking to expand in Asia after raising S$23 million from investors, including Japan’s Softbank Ventures and US venture capital firm Lightspeed Venture Partners.
According to Endowus founder and Chief Executive Officer Gregory Van, the money will be used to “rapidly scale up the Singapore business” and move into other Asian markets.
“We will expand our offerings to other key markets in the region, starting with Hong Kong,” he says in an email reply to questions from
Fitch Ratings cites the recent acquisition of Indonesia’s Bank Kesejahteraan Ekonomi (BKE) by Singapore tech startup Sea Ltd as well as Indonesian ride-hailing and food delivery company Gojek increasing its stake in Indonesian Bank Jago last month, as strategies of tech firms which want a slice of the Asean financial services market.
A TREND is fast gaining traction in the Asean banking space where small banks are being snapped up by technology companies for entry into an otherwise highly regulated market.
This week, Fitch Ratings wrote and posted an article on its website stating that recent acquisitions of small banks in Indonesia by tech firms have highlighted the potential for fintech entrants to shake up the competitive landscape for banking in Asean in time to come.
Malaysia’s financial sector will likely see stiff competition unfold over the next couple of years when digital banks make their debut and try to wrest market share from traditional lenders.
This is a scenario that is already set to play out in neighbouring Singapore, where the central bank recently issued four licences to non-bank companies.
Malaysia’s central bank, Bank Negara Malaysia, is the final stages of developing a licensing framework for digital banking, Assistant Governor Adnan Zaylan Mohamad Zahid said in a speech at a virtual financial technology conference on December 2. He didn’t provide a time line for launch.