Asia-Pacific Fintech Market to Reach US$72 Billion by 2020

The Fintech industry in the Asia-Pacific region is expected to grow at a CAGR of 72.5% 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.

Key analysts from Frost & Sullivan’s ICT practice and its Fintech program presented the top predictions for the industry in 2018.

Emerging Trends in Fintech

Mr. Spike Choo, Consulting Director at Frost & Sullivan’s ICT Asia-Pacific practice discussed the emerging trends in Fintech for 2018. In line with the Singapore government’s push to develop a cashless society, more initiatives will be launched to encourage more consumers and enterprises to adopt digital payments technologies.

He also expects to see more innovative Fintech services being launched in the areas of financial investments and advisory services as well as insurance due to advances in Big Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain.

However, the sustainability of these Fintech services would depend on how well they are able to address the wide-ranging consumers’ investment and insurance needs while ensuring the business model is sustainable without compromising on the customer experience.


Future of Cashless Payments in Singapore

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.