Vietnam secures $36 mln in fintech funding from Jan-Sep: UOB

Vietnam secured $36 million in nine finance technology (fintech) deals in the first nine months of this year, according to the Singapore-based United Overseas Bank's (UOB) FinTech in ASEAN 2023 report.

In Vietnam, alternative lending was the most attractive sub-sector in the January-September period, accounting for 48% of the total, followed by banking tech with 28% and insurtech with 17%.

Regarding the number of deals, investment tech made up the biggest portion of 44%, despite its modest portion of 8% in value.

In the region, Vietnam’s figure was only higher than that of the Philippines with $27 million. The top nations were Singapore with $747 million, Indonesia with $340 million, Thailand with $71 million, and Malaysia with $50 million.

The total value in Vietnam was one-sixth of the $221 million in nine deals recorded in the same period of 2022, UOB data shows.

Overall, fintech investment in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, or the ASEAN-6 group, reached $1.3 billion in the nine-month period, down 70% year-on-year.

The underperformance was in line with the global downtrend of only $44 billion in the period, or less than half of the $107 billion posted in 2022, UOB noted. The bank attributed the downtrend to high interest rates and uncertain economic conditions this year.

With a volatile market and uncertain macroeconomic outlook, the number of new fintech firms set up across ASEAN has dropped to 95 companies this year, falling more than 75% from last year, according to UOB.

The decline in fintech funding predominantly aligns with the broader downtrend in the technology sector, but looking ahead, “rapid advancement in artificial intelligence (AI) technology is a key emerging space that will propel the next generation of fintech innovations”, it added.