• Published on 6 August 2024
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Southeast Asia fintech app adoption to reach 60% by 2030

UnaFinancial’s recent research showed that penetration of mobile fintech apps in Southeast Asia will reach 49% in 2024 and is expected to grow to 60% by 2030. The highest levels are anticipated in the Philippines (72%), Indonesia (64%), and Malaysia (61%).

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 explained: “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 added: “Indonesia also stands out with the highest growth rate of fintech users over the past five 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 and 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 the 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 such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

Re-disseminated by The Asian Banker