Singapore Tops as Southeast Asia Reports Record Investments in Fintech

<p>The investments channeled to the fintech sector in the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN, increased to USD4.3 billion in the first
nine months of 2022. The amount is higher than the total investments in the
sector between 2018 and 2020.</p><p>According to a joint <a href="https://www.pwc.com/sg/en/publications/assets/page/fintech-innovation-in-singapore.pdf?link_id=1a2dedc0-a0af-4cad-b0e4-3148756cd0d5" target="_blank" rel="follow">report</a> released today (Friday) by the professional
services firm PwC Singapore, the Singapore Fintech Association (SFA), and the
Economic Development Board (EDB), Singapore attracted most of the investments
in the region in the <a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/terms/f/fintech/" target="_blank" rel="follow">fintech
sector</a>.</p><p>Singapore Leads</p><p>

"Singapore serves as an excellent bridge for companies to
reach the neighboring countries," the report explained. "The city-state also
boasts a diverse, multilingual talent pool, and a wide range of funding sources
for companies."</p><p>In 2022, in a
separate report published by PWC Singapore, the Singapore Fintech Association,
and United Overseas Bank, as quoted by The Strait Times, <a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/fintech/singapores-central-bank-launches-framework-for-digital-asset-networks/" target="_blank" rel="follow">Singapore</a> and Indonesia received approximately 65% of
the total fintech investments channeled to the sector in ASEAN.</p><p>The ASEAN region
recorded an increase in investments towards <a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/terms/f/fintech/">fintech</a> companies despite
a challenging macroeconomic environment, the report added. The investments in the global fintech
sector dropped to USD75 billion last year compared to USD139
billion in 2021. However, the sector is projected to grow by a compound annual
rate of 16% between 2023 and 2028 to more than USD400 billion.</p><p>Digital Payment Systems</p><p>On top of that, the
report disclosed that the most performing segment of the global fintech industry is the digital payments. The segment is projected to reach a
transaction value of USD9 trillion by 2023, with the number of users
expected to rise to 5 billion next year.</p><p><a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/binance-expands-crypto-services-in-inflation-hit-argentina/" target="_blank" rel="follow">Finance
Magnates</a> reported about
a week ago that Singapore’s market regulator, the Monetary Authority of
Singapore (MAS), had <a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/regulation/singapore-proposes-new-measures-for-digital-payment-token-services/" target="_blank" rel="follow">introduced
new measures</a> for the
Digital Payment Token (DPT) service providers.</p><p>One of the measures is
that the DPTs operating in the region must safely keep customers’ funds in a statutory
trust before the end of the year. Besides that, the regulator wants the service providers to
separate customers’ funds from their own.</p>

This article was written by Jared Kirui at www.financemagnates.com.