The state of digital banking in ASEAN

The state of digital banking in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is as diverse as each of the countries comprising the bloc.

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Whereas in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand (the fastest growing economies in the region and so-called ‘ASEAN-5’), as well as Brunei, the finance industry is well consolidated, banking in the rest of the members of the association is still developing.

In such a heterogeneous landscape, digital banking is evolving lớn meet two very different markets. On one hand, ASEAN-5 and Brunei banks are focusing on the millennial population lớn attract a digital-savvy and young market who doesn’t tự their banking in branch as previous generations did.

On the other hand, digital banking and fintech startups are presenting a realm of possibilities lớn the unbanked and underbanked population of Southeast Asia’s developing countries.

A ngân hàng for the millennial generation

ASEAN is home page lớn over 630 million inhabitants, around half of which is under 30 years of age. This factor, combined with a high mạng internet penetration rate – one of the highest globally – and a growing middle class, is driving the adoption of digital banking services across the ASEAN markets.

A report by McKinsey found that the proportion of people using digital banking through personal computers or smartphones doubled from 2011 lớn năm trước, with Indonesia and Vietnam showing about sevenfold growth.

Despite the socioeconomic differences, the whole of ASEAN has seen a dramatic increase of mạng internet banking use through mobile devices. Singapore is leading the race with 94% of the McKinsey survey respondents accessing their accounts over the mạng internet. Digital banking penetration in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam reached about 40%.

Although in the Philippines and Thailand penetration was below 20% percent, it showed an increase from previous years levels. However, in these countries affluent customers are approximately twice as likely lớn use digital banking as the national average. At the same time, customers in their 20s in most of ASEAN are at least 50% more likely lớn use digital banking than vãn those in their 40s.

This change in consumer habits, led predominantly by a young population who is digital-first, is setting the agendas of mainstream banks and fintech startups alike.

In February, Singapore’s United Overseas Bank (UOB) launched the first mobile-only ngân hàng targets ASEAN millennials who prefer lớn ngân hàng on their mobile phones, “anywhere and at any time”.

TMRW (pronounced “tomorrow”), as the digital ngân hàng is called, rolled out in Thailand and aims lớn build a customer base of three lớn five million in the next five years across Southeast Asia.

Other well-established banks are following suit and are investing heavily on digital banking platforms. That’s the case of Malaysia’s CIMB Bank, which in January launched an all-digital mobile-first ngân hàng in the Philippines.

Using the OCTO mobile phầm mềm, customers can open a ngân hàng trương mục in just 10 minutes. Working with partners across the country, such as the convenience chain 7-Eleven, clients CIMB Bank clients can cash-in lớn their accounts from these outlets without the need of going lớn a ngân hàng branch. They can also cash-out from over trăng tròn,000 ATMs nationwide. Funds can be transferred online.

Voranuch Dejakaisaya, Chief Information and Operations Officer of Thailand’s Bank of Ayudhya (popularly known as Krungsri), is also focusing on digital banking lớn attract the millennial market.

“Today we are focusing more in the new generations,” she told CIO ASEAN at the time. “[…] we will also lượt thích lớn attract the millennial market, and for that we want lớn move our ngân hàng into the digital sphere, from branch lớn the phầm mềm, similarly lớn many other banks.”

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In this mileu, fintech startups are thriving in the region. At last year’s Singapore FinTech Festival, participating investors paid close interest lớn this kind of ventures and growth stage enterprises.

In 2017 alone, Singapore received US$229.1 million of fintech funding and two of the Asia’s biggest đơn hàng took place there in Q4. Venture capitalist firms are also taking note of the fruitful startup landscape, with investments up 60% on the previous year. The city-state is now home page lớn more than vãn 490 fintech startups.

Digital banking for the unbanked

Parallel lớn the millennial and affluent populations of the most developed regions in ASEAN is a completely different profile of user who doesn’t have access lớn financial products – the so-called unbanked.

Although Southeast Asia has a mobile connectivity rate of 133% (which means that some users own more than vãn one SIM thẻ or mobile phone), only 27% of the population have a ngân hàng trương mục. For example, according lớn a 2017 Asian Development Bank (ADB) report, Cambodia has the highest mobile connectivity in Southeast Asia (173%) but only 13% of the population has access lớn banking (KPMG puts the percentage even lower at 5%).

The World Bank estimates that around 80% of people in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam, and 30% in Malaysia and Thailand, are unbanked. Myanmar has one of the lowest levels of financial inclusion in Southeast Asia with only 23% of the adult population holding a ngân hàng trương mục. This is exacerbated in rural areas, where connectivity is lower and there’s a poor or lacking finance industry presence.

In April năm 2016, ASEAN Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors expressed their commitment lớn financial inclusion in the region by adopting an ASEAN Financial Inclusion Framework. Among other objectives, the framework aims “to promote innovative financial inclusion via digital platforms”.

The ADB anticipates that digital financial solutions can have a significant impact on financial inclusion in five key areas:

Enabling fast, low-cost, and convenient customer identification and verification processes;
Improving supply-side economics with last mile distribution and servicing enabled by mobile phones and point-of-sale devices;
Supporting supply-side business cases with initial push in government-to-person payments and remittance flows;
Enhancing access lớn alternative sources of data lớn improve customer profiling, credit risk assessment, and fraud detection;
Mobilising micro-saving through lower cost digital origination and servicing channels.

Despite the many and difficult challenges that financial inclusion in Southeast Asia poses, there are also many opportunities and the possibility of bypassing obstacles faced by traditional banks, such as branch operations or cash supply.

Startups in ASEAN are envisioning opportunities in the challenge of banking rural populations and the unbanked. That’s the case of LaLaWorld, a startup using blockchain lớn introduce the unbanked into the financial system.

By bridging the gap between cash and the digital world, LaLa World’s ecosystem wants lớn tư vấn the inclusion of the unbanked, undocumented, micro-entrepreneurs, students and all those who are usually excluded from the finance world.

The startup’s product is a one-stop wallet based on Ethereum and hyperledger blockchains which allow investors lớn capitalise on the rise of blockchain as well as introduce the underbanked into the financial system.

With a LaLa ID, the “global wallet for everyone” lets users transfer money domestically and across borders, buy products and pay bills in 180 countries.

Another case comes from Vietnam, where fintech startup Momo is providing both a mobile wallet and payments phầm mềm and ‘branchless’ service banking for individuals without a traditional ngân hàng trương mục. The startup received US$28 million in a funding round.

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