SINGAPORE: According to the report, mobile fintech penetration in six countries of Southeast Asia has more than tripled since 2019, reaching 49% in May 2024. The Philippines leads with 63%, followed by Malaysia (55%), Indonesia (49%), Thailand (45%), Singapore (45%) and Vietnam (32%).
Analysts at UnaFinancial explain: “The leadership of the Philippines is due to several factors, including the large share of the unbanked population, regulatory efforts to develop digital financial technologies, a large proportion of young and tech-savvy population and a growing level of mobile and Internet penetration.”
They add: “Indonesia also stands out with the highest growth rate of fintech users over the past 5 years. The level of mobile fintech app adoption increased from 9% in 2019 to 49% in 2024. Similar to the Philippines, Indonesia is actively developing fintech, supported by government efforts and a large share of the unbanked population.”
The leading segments of fintech apps are digital wallets & payments (35%) and mobile banking (18%). The fastest-growing segment is lending apps, which showed an increase from 1% in 2019 to 5% in 2024. The lowest penetration levels are seen in investing and cryptocurrency trading apps (2% each), likely due to decreased investment activity amid the unstable global economic situation.
UnaFinancial expects the share of fintech app users in Southeast Asia to grow to 60% by the end of 2030. The Philippines will continue to lead with 72%. Indonesia will take second place with 64%, followed by Malaysia (61%), Thailand (50%), Singapore (48%) and Vietnam (41%).
The analysts considered data from data.ai on the number of active users of fintech applications starting from May 2019. In total, the sample included 8,740 apps (IOS + Android) across six countries in Southeast Asia (Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam).
