Throughout the past decade, the rapid proliferation of mobile payment solutions has been a key enabler for digital economies across Asia and beyond. Building on our 2020 report, ‘The Next Wave: Emerging Digital Life in South and Southeast Asia’, which explores the emerging digital life in South and Southeast Asia, this paper examines new policy, industrial and technological developments over the past four years in the Asia Pacific region.
Governments’ initiatives to develop digital economies, as well as public-private collaboration in modernising payment infrastructure, has helped to install fast payment systems and national QR code schemes. Accelerating cross-border commerce has spurred the demand for payment interoperability.
E-wallets have embraced the concept of super apps to provide a suite of services through mini apps. All these factors have contributed to the checkout revolution, as the checkout moment now opens up new possibilities for a much more extended and varied consumer engagement journey.
Amid the constantly evolving cross-border checkout revolution, we have identified four key trends:
- The Asia Pacific region leads the world in digital payment adoption, accounting for nearly two-thirds of global digital wallet spend at US$9.8 trillion. Digital wallets are attracting numerous players to join the race, all extending partnerships with e-wallets and fintech players.
- With cross-border payment interoperability becoming a dominant theme for e-wallet adoption in the Asia Pacific region, public and private efforts have been made to upgrade digital infrastructure. For instance, national QR schemes from Singapore and Cambodia have partnered with Alipay+ to bridge the cross-border gap between their home QR schemes. Cross-border payment linkages have also been launched in Southeast Asia.
- Responding to the trend of omnichannel commerce post-pandemic, e-wallets and banking apps are quickly evolving into super apps by assembling a suite of services into their integrated platform, such as in 2023 the super app Livin’ by Mandiri being ranked as the 2023 fastest-growing mobile app in Indonesia. Many retailers and merchants are undergoing omnichannel transformations to create a seamless, personalised user experience.
- Payment solutions and innovations have become an anchor for inclusive and sustainable growth. Fintech innovators are empowering micro, small and medium enterprises (‘MSMEs’) to grow and reach global markets, while assisting their digital and sustainability transformation.
The fast-growing and changing payment landscape has also increased the threat of financial crime. Fraudsters are constantly weaponizing new technologies to exploit vulnerabilities in the payment ecosystem. Concerns over financial crime are further heightened as more MSMEs deepen digitalization while having limited resources allocated to cybersecurity. Industry-wide collaboration and public-private partnerships will be paramount to carrying out cooperative, pragmatic approaches to bring fintech innovations and digitalisation to fruition and to drive long-term social impact.
