Author: Tun Yong Yap

When Bank Indonesia released a new set of regulations for commercial banks last week, attention turned towards the long-awaited digital banking guidelines which were released alongside it. Indonesia joined its regional counterparts Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines in issuing these guidelines as regulators warm to the prospect of digital-only banks. The regulations unveiled will take effect at the end of October and set out requirements for digital banks, ranging from data protection for customers to employing executives versed in technology. On the capital front, digital banks are required to maintain a minimum paid-up capital of IDR 10 trillion (US$ 694…

In his book Crossing the Chasm, Geoffrey Moore suggests disruptive innovations follow an s-curve, where there is a gap or chasm between early adopters and the early majority. It would be fair to say Decentralised Finance or commonly abbreviated as DeFi is seeking to punch through this chasm. While it has been adopted by innovators and early adopters, it has not achieved the majority adoption its supporters were hoping for. For the uninitiated, DeFi is a system in which financial products are accessible through a public decentralised blockchain network. This removes the need for consumers to transact through intermediaries such…

Last year, we saw movement restrictions causing office rents to plummet across Southeast Asia. As the region’s economies entered recession, consumer discretionary spending fell as many opted to wait out the economic storm. While office rents fell in Singapore, Bangkok and Hong Kong, Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) witnessed a spike of 1.7 per cent instead. Vietnam’s residential housing market witnessed even higher growth rates. According to Cushman & Wakefield, apartment prices in HCMC grew by 90 per cent from 2017 to 2020, including by 12.8 per cent in 2020 alone. The bullish nature of Vietnam’s real estate market can…

It’s not about the cards you’re dealt, but how you play the hand. That would be an accurate depiction of the insurtech industry in Singapore. Insurance has been a tough nut to crack, especially in the city-state. Singapore is home to one of the highest saturated insurance markets globally – measured by gross written premiums (GWP) as a percentage of per-capita gross domestic product (GDP). A report by Bain showed incumbents accounted for more than 45 per cent of GWP and annual growth was at 1 per cent for the general insurance market. Furthermore, traditional distribution channels through agents and…

Meet Naufal Rahman. In his mid-20s, the Jakarta native has been exploring Indonesian robo-advisor platform Bibit as he prepares to make his first foray into investing. Together with his millennial and Gen Z peers that make up a combined 53 per cent of the population, Naufal is part of a new generation of retail investors that have benefitted Indonesia’s rapid economic growth. World Bank data showed the archipelago’s economy grew on average five per cent annually from 2010 to 2019 with income levels doubling. Despite its large population, Indonesia has a low penetration rate for stock investments. At the end…

Within Southeast Asia, 85 per cent of consumers adopt some form of cashless payment solution, a study by Visa has revealed. Visa’s Consumer Payment Attitudes Study 2021 also found 46 per cent of Southeast Asian consumers carry less cash in their wallets compared to before the pandemic, particularly those in Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand. Besides uncovering payment trends across the region, the study delved into the digital banking industry and made several key findings. Among them, 77 per cent of consumers were willing to bank with a well-known brand that is not currently in financial services. Here are the…

Tiktok. The short-form video platform has taken the world by storm since its launch in 2017, with more than 18 per cent of global internet users currently on TikTok. While the platform first gained its popularity for its 15-second videos, it has since evolved to include longer-form content. Today, TikTok is more than just music and dance videos. It is shaping to be an educational platform, with bite-sized videos dishing out investing knowledge. Tiktok is not the only social media platform witnessing this trend. Facebook and Instagram have similar influencers who amassed a sizeable audience following their investing and personal…

Has the Southeast Asian startup ecosystem ever witnessed a quarter more exciting than the current one? We entered the second quarter with Grab’s blockbuster SPAC listing. Valuing the super-app at US$40 billion and being the largest SPAC deal to date, it placed Southeast Asia into the global spotlight. As the dust settled on news of the region’s first tech listing in the US since Sea Group, Gojek and Tokopedia thrust the ecosystem back into the spotlight by officially announcing they were merging to form GoTo Group. While financial details regarding the combined entity were not disclosed, the press statement noted…