Asia-Pacific Fintech Market to reach US$72 billion by 2020

Active support and initiatives by financial regulators such as the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Bank Negara Malaysia and Bank Indonesia has enabled the Asia-Pacific Fintech ecosystem to grow significantly in 2017.

New innovations are expected to radically transform the way consumers shop, pay perform banking transactions and purchase insurance. The wave of new Fintech technologies is also changing customer behaviour and interactions today.

Frost & Sullivan presented its annual Fintech Outlook at The Swissôtel The Stamford in Singapore on 8 February. The event was attended by over 70 senior management and C-suite executives, marking the start of an exciting year ahead for the industry.

The Fintech industry in the Asia-Pacific region is expected to grow at a CAGR of 72.5 percent from 2015 to 2020, reaching US$72 billion. The positive outlook is fuelled by growth in digital payments such as increasing adoption of cashless payments by small and medium sized enterprises. There is also more widespread awareness of the viability of using P2P financing as well as new methods of crowdfunding using Blockchain, which will lead to growth in the personal and business financing segment.

According to Ms Quah Mei Lee, Industry principal, ICT, Asia-Pacific, the mobile payments market in Singapore was estimated to be worth US$1.4 billion in 2017. The market is still small but is growing fast. There are many supportive regional and local regulations and initiatives that will help Singapore move towards a cashless Society.

Singapore already has an optimal number of complementary mobile payment solutions to drive acceptance on the island state. Despite this, more and more "me too" solutions are entering the market. With only limited partnerships underway and a local first mentality, the market risks not achieving its full potential.  Mei Lee stresses that mobile payments of the future needs to be global first, inter-operable and secure. Global alignment will be key to mobile payments going mainstream.