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It may seem like fintech emerged just a few years ago, but the sector has already become a powerful force in expanding financial inclusion and reaching underserved communities. For more than a decade, the West, led by hubs such as San Francisco, New York City and London, shaped fintech innovation. Today, that momentum is shifting decisively towards Asia.
According to the latest “Future of Fintech in APAC”, Money20/20’s annual trends report, almost 23 per cent of the senior fintech leaders surveyed identified Southeast Asia as their primary growth target.
The report, based on surveys and interviews with more than 130 senior fintech leaders across the region, reveals an industry moving well beyond pilot programmes towards enterprise-scale solutions. Financial institutions, technology companies and start-ups are prioritising collaboration, digital trust and financial inclusion as core business imperatives for this year.
The strategic shift is telling: the Western model has for years pitted challengers directly against legacy banks. Southeast Asia has taken a different path towards an “impact era”, where commercial success and social good are increasingly inseparable. Fintech firms are also increasingly collaborating with traditional banks while still competing in certain areas, building ecosystem infrastructure rather than chasing outright disruption.
This is visible in practice, as Singapore’s fintech platform Grab Financial and Thailand’s Kasikornbank have partnered to expand digital wallet and e-money services across Southeast Asia. In Indonesia, tech company GoTo has scaled into digital financial services through its partnership with Bank Jago, a digital bank in Indonesia, reaching new consumer and merchant segments through digital banking capabilities.
Trends shaping fintech in Asia
As adoption accelerates across the region, digital trust and cyber-resilience have emerged as the most pressing operational priority, with more than 63 per cent of leaders identifying fraud prevention as their top concern. Regulators and industry players are responding by investing heavily in real-time risk intelligence and AI-driven security infrastructure – because the winners in Asia will be those who can offer reliability and security alongside innovation.
AI, meanwhile, continues to advance. More than 61 per cent of the organisations surveyed have already adopted AI or machine learning, with just 3.5 per cent yet to begin exploring it. The financial sector has moved well beyond generative AI pilots and is actively embedding it, including agentic capabilities, into core operations. The short-term goal for many organisations is not just testing use cases, but building the organisational structures needed to scale them sustainably.
Another notable trend concerns small and medium-sized (SME)-focused fintech and the advanced marketing and operational strategy of tailoring products and services for particular neighbourhoods, districts or areas. SMEs account for more than 90 per cent of all enterprises in Asia, yet historically have been underserved by traditional financial institutions.
Fintech solutions, from digital lending to payment infrastructure and supply chain finance, are now bridging this gap at scale. Survey respondents broadly agreed that fintech tailored for smaller businesses – addressing long-standing financing gaps and reducing friction in everyday transactions – is essential to driving sustainable economic growth across the region.
Governments are also moving quickly: real-time payment systems and interoperable QR code networks now connect nine Southeast Asian countries, while new frameworks in Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan are driving institutional adoption of stablecoins and tokenised assets.
Against this backdrop of accelerating change, events such as Money20/20 Asia 2026 serve as a platform for Asia-Pacific’s most senior decision-makers to turn these insights into action.
“The fintech landscape in Asia is evolving faster than ever, and the conversations happening at Money20/20 Asia are where the region’s most important deals and partnerships take shape,” says Danny Levy, executive vice-president and managing director, APAC and Middle East at Money20/20. “This is the platform where strategy meets execution and where the future of finance in Asia is actively being built.”
The three-day event in April will draw leaders from banks, payment companies, venture capital firms, regulators and the wider financial ecosystem. Among the companies attending are Ant Group, DBS, PayNet Malaysia, Kasikornbank, Wise, GXBank, Circle and Google, all convening to discover the latest ideas, build industry-shaping partnerships and unlock opportunities across Asia-Pacific.
Among the speakers is Fozia Amanulla, CEO of Boost Bank Malaysia, who will be sharing her perspective on the forces reshaping fintech across the region. Her view reflects a broader industry consensus, where more than 90 per cent of executives surveyed said initiatives that prioritise societal benefit – from financial inclusion to environmental impact – are now embedded in corporate strategy, moving beyond just ESG compliance into core business practice.
“Financial inclusion is one of the biggest opportunities for fintech in Southeast Asia,” she says. “At Boost Bank, we believe the future of banking lies in embedded finance, bringing financial services directly into the digital ecosystems where people and SMEs already live and transact. When banking becomes simpler, more accessible and seamlessly integrated into everyday platforms, we unlock real economic participation and growth across the region.”
Bangkok hosts Asia’s fintech community
For fintech professionals looking to stay ahead of the trends reshaping Asia’s financial landscape, make the connections that drive real business outcomes and build pipelines at scale, Money20/20 Asia 2026 is the essential gathering of the year.
Southeast Asia is no longer just an emerging market, but the global testing ground for the future of finance.
