Fintech investments strong in ASEAN, Vietnam tops in app usage

ASEAN remains an attractive destination for fintech investment amid economic and geopolitical uncertainties, with Vietnam and Thailand leading the region in terms of application usage, a new report finds.

ASEAN fintech enterprises attracted $4.3 billion in the first nine months of the year, accounting for 7% of the total $63.5 billion invested in the sector globally, up from just 2% in 2018, according to the “Fintech in Asean 2022 report” by Singaporean bank UOB, PwC Singapore, and Singapore FinTech Association (SFA).

The region saw a decline in the number of deals, but the average deal size rose to $26.5 million from $23 million in the same period last year, according to the report, released in Singapore on Thursday.

Late-stage funding made up 54% of the total investments, up from 43% in the first three quarters of 2021, as investors grew more selective, placing greater focus on fintech firms with a clearer pathway toward profitability and sound financial management.

Among the ASEAN economies, Singapore and Indonesia maintained the lion’s share of fintech investments, mainly driven by 10 major deals that accounted for 37% of all funding in the region.

In terms of usage, the study shows 70% of surveyed respondents have reported using applications with a form of financial service embedded into the platform, with Vietnam and Thailand leading the region at 83%. Singapore’s lower usage (55%) may be due to its population’s financial needs being well-served by a mature financial ecosystem and products like credit cards, the survey finds.

Payments remain hot spot

Across ASEAN, payments and alternative lending continue to attract the most funding, amounting to $1.9 billion and $506 million, respectively, between January and September, the study shows.

Crypto firms are now the third most funded fintech category in the region with $461 million in investment, despite the broader crypto market’s volatile performance this year.

There were eight mega deals from these three categories worth close to $2 billion in total, or 46% of all fintech funding in ASEAN. However, with a volatile market and an uncertain macroeconomic outlook, the number of new fintech firms set up across the region has dropped to an all-time low of 127 companies this year.

“Despite the global uncertainty, it's clear that ASEAN continues to be a bright spot for funding investments,” says Singapore FinTech Association president Shadab Taiyabi. “We are heartened to see the resilience within the fintech ecosystem as players continue to flourish across subsectors like payments and alternative lending.”

ASEAN FinTech Movement by six nations

In a related development, Singapore FinTech Association said Wednesday it and five other national fintech associations in the region have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to form the ASEAN FinTech Movement.

The six members are Singapore FinTech Association, Cambodian Association of Finance & Technology, FinTech Association of Malaysia, Digital Pilipinas, Thai FinTech Association, and Vietnam FinTech Club.

The MoU, signed the same day during Singapore FinTech Festival, seeks to formalize each national fintech association’s involvement in the formation of the ASEAN FinTech Movement, with the goal of raising the region’s profile as a fintech powerhouse, as well as providing a common networking platform for the region’s fintech players to tap into.

The movement will collaborate in four key areas with the first being education through the sharing of training materials and resources to promote stakeholder understanding of fintech. It will also look into regulatory development updates.