Kuala Lumpur jumps to 15th place in the top 20 Asian fintech hubs

KUALA LUMPUR (December 20): Kuala Lumpur has jumped 11 places to 15th among Asia’s top 20 financial technology (fintech) hubs, according to Asia Pacific Fintech Rankings: Bridging Divides.

The report by global research and analysis company Findexable and powered by Mambu, a global software as a service (SaaS) banking platform, ranked Hong Kong, Singapore and Sydney in Australia as the top three centers for financial technology.

He said Asian countries were among the first to launch specialized digital banking licenses to encourage neobanks as part of broader economic inclusion strategies.

“Malaysia and Singapore also have regulatory sandboxes that allow digital banks to extend certain services to pilot customers without passing daily regulatory tests,” he said.

Findexable CEO and Co-Founder Simon Hardie said the ranking of Asia-Pacific’s fintech hubs is a testament to the region’s diversity, ingenuity and commitment to innovation. .

“With 45 hubs in the region, a third more than in 2020, Asia-Pacific fintech companies are proving that fintech is the engine of the digital economy.

“More importantly, as this report shows, fintech [firms] show that building successful businesses must go hand in hand with contributing to broader goals of financial inclusion and development, ”he said in a statement on Monday (December 20th).

Mambu Chief Executive Officer Myles Bertrand said the SaaS cloud banking platform has seen an astonishing acceleration in the rate of fintech innovation in the region over the past year and the adoption of new financial technologies. is now primarily driven by consumer demand as a direct result of Covid. -19 pandemic.

“Consumers across the Asia-Pacific region have discovered how digital banking technologies can make their lives easier through a wide range of faster, more convenient and much less expensive ways to manage their money,” he said. .

He said Asia was home to nearly half of the top 20 global fintech hubs identified in the report, but different regulations from country to country could be a real obstacle to multinational growth in the region.

“The central bank or the government of each country has its own program, so it is extremely important for fintech [firms] work with regulators in each country to understand their concerns and help support the creation of mutually beneficial ecosystems that support innovation, ”he added.

The report highlighted the vital role that fintech innovation has played in bridging the gaps between the ‘banked’, ‘underserved’ and ‘unbanked’, especially in countries that may have low levels of formal financial inclusion. but high levels of smartphone ownership and internet penetration.