Finance has long been one of the world’s most influential industries, and historically, one of its most male-dominated.

The numbers still show a hole. Women account for 41% of fintech customers globally, according to the World Economic Forum. But across Asia’s halls, fintech startups and payment networks, the balance is shifting.

Across Asia’s financial ecosystem, more women are stepping into positions where decisions about capital, technology, and financial access are made. Women today are leading digital banks, scaling payment infrastructure, shaping regulatory frameworks and building the technologies that millions rely on to move money every day.

The change is becoming increasingly impossible to ignore. This International Women’s Day, we recognise the women shaping fintech across Asia in 2026.

Top Fintech Female Leaders in Asia in 2026

These 12 leaders are building and scaling the fintech infrastructure that powers payments, lending, wealth, insurance, and cross-border commerce across Asia.

Adeline Kim, Country Manager Singapore & Brunei, Visa

Adeline Kim has spent over a decade at Visa, moving through some of its most strategic roles. These include the Head of Products for Southeast Asia, Head of Consumer Solutions and Loyalty for Asia Pacific, and Head of Data and Risk Solutions for Asia Pacific. Now, as Country Manager for Singapore and Brunei, she owns the full strategy, innovation roadmap, and P&L for both markets.

Before Visa, Adeline worked extensively in Singapore across Citibank, UOB, and the Singapore Tourism Board.

Holly Fang, President, Singapore Fintech Association

As President of the Singapore FinTech Association, Holly leads the national industry body’s strategic direction across advocacy, business growth, capital access, and talent development.

Concurrently, as Chief Business Officer at Finmo, she is driving global financial and strategic partnerships as the company builds out its international treasury and payments infrastructure. She has over a decade of experience in financial partnerships.

Rachel Freeman, Chief Growth Officer, Tyme & Board Member, GoTyme

As Chief Growth Officer at Tyme and board representative at GOtyme, Rachel leads the growth engine spanning Africa and Asia, translating that conviction into scale, with millions of customers reached across South Africa and the Philippines.

Before Tyme, focused on driving financial inclusion and fintech innovation at the IFC across emerging markets.

Martha Sazon, President & CEO, GCash

Under Martha Sazon, GCash became a financial lifeline. Since taking the helm as President and CEO of Mynt, she has driven GCash’s expansion from mobile payments and remittances into savings, investments, and digital solutions that have brought millions of previously unbanked Filipinos into the financial fold.

With over 20 years of experience spanning consumer, finance, technology, and telecommunications across global markets, Sazon brings a rare cross-industry range into her role.

Jeeta Bandopadhyay, Co-Founder & COO, Tookitaki

Jeeta Bandopadhyay has grown Tookitaki from a startup into a global regtech company with over 100 employees.

Her expertise in the space has earned her a spot among the Emerging 35 in the Fintech Frontiers 50 awards for 2025, as well as a place as one of the 10 leaders celebrated in the Singapore FinTech Association’s 10 Years, 10 Voices report. 

Caecilia Chu, Co-Founder and CEO, YouTrip

Caecilia Chu co-founded YouTrip to solve a simple but costly problem: the hidden fees and markups that made spending across borders needlessly expensive. The result was a multi-currency e-wallet that lets users hold and spend in over 150 currencies at real-time wholesale rates, built on a bank-grade platform. Today, YouTrip operates across Singapore, Thailand, and, recently Australia.

Off the clock, Chu channels her energy into education, youth, and women’s leadership, causes that mirror her own story as the daughter of a postman and kindergarten teacher from Hong Kong. She sits on the boards of YouthTech SG and the International Women’s Forum Singapore.

Tessa Wijaya, Co-Founder and COO, Xendit

Tessa Wijaya has helped build Xendit into one of Southeast Asia’s most recognised payment infrastructure companies. Now, it is dubbed the “Stripe of Southeast Asia”, with over $500 million raised and billions in annual payments processed across Indonesia, the Philippines, and beyond.

Under her leadership, Xendit has achieved a 40% female workforce. She has been featured in Forbes Asia’s Power Businesswomen list and J.P. Morgan’s Top 100 Asia-Pacific Women-Powered Businesses 2021.

Oi-Yee Choo, CEO, Climate Impact X

Oi-Yee Choo has spent 25 years moving through Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Nomura, and UBS before taking the helm at ADDX, where she grew the blockchain-based private capital markets exchange to over US$1 billion in tokenised securities, one of the largest figures worldwide.

Now, as CEO of Climate Impact X (CIX), she is in a new frontier: building the exchange infrastructure that accelerates environmental impact at scale through carbon markets. CIX is backed by DBS Bank, Mizuho Financial Group, Singapore Exchange (SGX Group), Standard Chartered and Temasek.

Fernn Lim, Chief Operating Officer, audax

As Chief Operating Officer at audax, the digital banking platform spun out of Standard Chartered, Fernn Lim deputises the CEO and oversees everything from board engagement and legal to growth strategy and multi-market expansion.

Beyond audax, Fernn is actively working to shift the numbers on female representation in financial institutions and boardrooms through her involvement with BoardAgender by SCWO, Deloitte’s Board Ready Women, and Money20/20.

Cindy Kua, Co-Founder & CEO, Sunday

Before co-founding Sunday in 2017, Cindy Kua had already moved through two distinct worlds: corporate M&A law at Rahmat Lim & Partners in association with Allen & Gledhill, where she worked on significant financial services transactions across Southeast Asia, and operational transformation across non-life insurance companies in Thailand and Indonesia.

That rare combination of legal, strategic, and operational experience is what she channelled into Sunday, a fully integrated data and technology platform offering real-time, customised, and affordable non-life insurance products in Thailand.

Within three years of launch, Sunday had broken into the country’s top 20 non-life insurance companies in the health segment.

Hooi Ling Tan, Former Co-Founder, Grab

As co-founder of Grab, Hooi Ling Tan helped build what became one of Southeast Asia’s most transformative tech platforms, turning on-demand transport into a regional superapp that redefined how millions of people move, pay, and access services.

While she has since stepped out from her role at Grab, her impact on the region’s startup ecosystem is hard to ignore. She now channels that experience as a global board member at Endeavor, backing the next generation of high-impact entrepreneurs.

Amanda Ong, Arta Finance CEO, Singapore

As Singapore CEO and Global Head of Partnerships at Arta Finance, Amanda Ong has made collaboration the engine of digital wealth management.

She has driven partnerships with the Bank of Singapore and Hong Leong to equip financial advisors with AI-enabled tools, and worked with Income Advisory FA to introduce a platform built for high-net-worth clients.

Leadership That Mirrors the Market

As the industry navigates AI, digital assets, financial inclusion, and cross-border complexity, the question is no longer whether women belong in finance’s highest ranks. The more urgent question is how much further and faster the ecosystem can evolve when leadership reflects the diversity of the markets it serves.

When decision makers understand different customer realities, income patterns, and behavioural needs, innovation becomes sharper and inclusion more intentional.

The women leading across payments, digital banking, regtech, wealth, and other fintech segments are shaping the architecture of Asia’s financial future, ensuring that growth and resilience are built into the system from the start.

Featured image edited by Fintech News Singapore based on image by ismode on Freepik