Is Asia The New Fintech Frontier?

Tracey Davies, president, Money2020, the leading industry conference for fintechs, outlines how Asia is emerging as a fintech frontier:

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India, China, Singapore and Japan have large number of fintechs than many other countries. While developed countries are conservative in their approach towards innovations and regulations, Asians have shown dynamic progress. At the Money2020 event in Singapore, the focus was more on Asia’s rising fintechs. The conference is dedicated to future of money and happens in 4 countries, targeting a different country every quarter. Over 200 speakers, 200 exhibitors and delegates from 50 countries participated in the conference where Asian innovation in fintech was the topic of discussion.

While western countries have adopted card payments as a primary mode of transactions, countries in Asia are exploring with one-time password (OTP) based, QR code payments and biometric payments. Singapore is the first country in the world to have a sandbox for fintechs to test their innovations. CreditEase, a leading Fintech in P2P lending from China has surpassed Goldman Sachs and American Express in terms of business within 10 years of its operation. And India’s Aadhaar has become a case study for many countries in the world.

Regulators in Asia are far more comfortable, unlike regulators from developed countries who are conservative, said Piyush Gupta, CEO & Director, DBS, while sharing his thoughts on new financial services at the opening session at the conference. DBS is the first bank to implement Blockchain “We follow a dual strategy - defense strategy in other countries and attack strategy in Singapore,” says Gupta.

Sopnendu Mohanty, chief fintech officer at Monetary Authority of Singapore, said clarity on cloud policies, thoughtful data sharing, data residency policy  and open architecture for fintechs are the key that Asian regulators should follow.

Tracey Davies, president, Money 2020, is very optimistic about Asia’s fintech story. She shares her views in an interaction: