Asia Payments Research
YouTrip is confident about its prospects
Singapore-based fintech startup YouTrip is increasingly confident about its business prospects and has even started talking about an IPO – though the company’s leadership will not commit to a date yet. YouTrip is an anomaly. In 2023, it managed to raise US$50 million in a tough period for fintech funding, which supported the expansion of its multicurrency wallet in Malyasia, Singapore and Thailand. It achieved profitability in 2022 and has stayed in the black. In November, YouTrip CEO Caecilia Chu told Nikkei Asia that the company processed US$10 billion in transactions last year and is projected to see a 70% annual revenue increase in 2024.
Why a retail digital currency is working in Cambodia
Massive hype about central bank digital currencies – and in particular the retail segment – has not translated to widescale adoption in Asia. This is particularly notable in the region’s two largest economies and nations by population: China and India. Yet while retail users have limited interest in digital fiat currencies in China and India, they are flocking to Cambodia’s Project Bakong, which surpassed 10 million accounts (60% of Cambodia’s population) in December 2023. The National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) jointly developed Bakong with the Japanese blockchain technology startup Soramitsu, launching it in October 2020.
The last few years have witnessed a rapidly evolving cross-border payment landscape in Asia Pacific. Across the region, financial institutions and FinTechs have made significant headway in areas like central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and real-time payments.
However, several challenges remain that impede further progress. Potential CBDC fragmentation, legacy systems, and rising digital fraud pose difficulties. As 2025 approaches, regulators, financial institutions, and FinTechs must understand three key gaps and address them.
How successful is Airwallex?
Airwallex, a plucky Tencent-backed B2B payments company founded in Australia, said on Aug. 15 that it has surpassed US$100 billion in annual processing volume, a 73% annual increase. The company, which has moved its corporate headquarters several times since its 2015 founding and is now based in Singapore, said it has seen growing volumes across all products and an annual run rate revenue of almost $500 million. While these numbers suggest that Airwallex continues to experience robust growth amid a broader fintech slowdown, it remains unprofitable.
Mynt is on a roll
Ant Group and Globe-backed Mynt, which operates the e-wallet GCash, is on a roll. Long one of the most valuable startups in the Philippines, it this month saw its valuation increase to US$5 billion – more than doubling its previous valuation of US$2 billion that it reached in 2021 – following a combined US$800 million capital injection from Japan’s MUFG and the Philippine conglomerate Ayala. The new funding for Mynt comes at a time when large fintech investments are hard to come by given high interest rates and more-stringent investor expectations.
What are the prospects for Project Nexus?
When it comes to cross-border payment linkages, Southeast Asia is leading the way. Several years ago, Singapore and Thailand established the first such linkage with their respective real-time retail payment networks, making it possible for users to pay each other with just a mobile number. Since then, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines have all established their own real-time payment systems. Of course, a broader regional system has always been the goal of central bankers, given the speed, efficiency and transparency it promises. With the advent of Project Nexus led by the Bank of International Settlements (BIS), that possibility may have just increased significantly.
Revolut faces uncertain prospects in Asia Pacific
Revolut’s PR machine has long sought to depict the company as an ascendant player in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. These efforts go back almost six years. Revolut entered Singapore and Japan in late 2018 and Australia in early 2019. In recent years, it has invested big in India. The UK finech unicorn talked about entering China in 2021, but those efforts to do not seem to have come to fruition.
Why is Line Pay being shut down in Japan?
Given the ubiquity of the Line messaging app in Japan, we were initially surprised to learn that the Line Pay app will be shut down in its home market in the end of April 2025. New user registrations will only be possible until Nov. 2024. After that, users will be able to transfer their Line Pay balances to PayPay. In a statement, Line-Yahoo stated the move is part of its governance strategy to “reorganize its businesses and integrate overlapping business areas” to expand group synergy.
Revolut is still dreaming about APAC expansion
How long has Revolut been saying it has big plans for Asia Pacific? At least six years, if not longer – by our calculations. It has a presence in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore and India and at one time planned to set up shop in many other Asian countries. Yet this ethos originated in a time of low interest rates and near infinite VC funding. Revolut did not have to worry too much about profitability back then, so it could devote most of its attention to growth. At the same time, the multicurrency wallet that lies at the core of Revolut’s value proposition may not be that attractive to customers in emerging markets more focused on gaining access to core retail banking services.
Here comes BNPL regulation for Australia
Despite the best lobbying efforts of certain industry players, Australia is moving forward with long-running plans to rein in the buy now, pay later (BNPL) segment of digital financial services. Provided that the bill introduced on June 5 becomes law, BNPL firms in the country will be required to run credit checks on borrowers and hold an Australian Credit License (ACL).
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Why cash is still prevalent in Asia
Although the narrative in the financial industry is that digital is better, that is not always the case. Many rural economies across Asia operate on a largely informal and cash basis. A few factors are driving this. Firstly, there is often a lack of infrastructure to support cashless payments, such as limited internet access or banking services. Secondly, the rural populations often have a general distrust or lack of familiarity with digital payment systems. Additionally, the informal nature of many businesses in rural areas lends itself to cash transactions, which are perceived as more straightforward.
Billease is the rare profitable BNPL firm
While the buy now, pay later (BNPL) concept has proven immensely popular with consumers worldwide, developing a sustainable business model as a BNPL focused fintech is a challenging endeavor. For that reason, it is always noteworthy when a BNPL firm reaches the profitability milestone. The Philippines’ Billease, founded in 2017, appears to have done so in 2023.
Cashless payments jump in Vietnam
Vietnam is one of the most promising markets for fintech in Southeast Asia, with the payments segment continuing to lead the way. While talk of Vietnam going truly cashless is premature, there is a steady transition to digital payments in the country. Data compiled by the State Bank of Vietnam show that non-cash payment transactions increased by 63.3% in volume and 41.45% in value in January, compared to the same period in 2023. Many Vietnamese banks now have over 90% of their transactions conducted via digital channels.
Singapore-based payments fintech Nium has been busy expanding internationally as it seeks to put itself in the most favorable position possible ahead of a planned IPO in 2025. In recent months, Nium has expanded on multiple continents, from South America to different parts of Asia.