Apr
The One Thing to Care about in APAC Payments in 2025
With so many markets in Asia Pacific, each with different conditions and needs, it can be a challenge to prioritize efforts. This is why we recently had a webinar focused on “the one thing” to care about in Asia Pacific (APAC) payments across specific markets.
In the webinar, we focused on 7 key markets in the region:
We began the webinar by looking at overall trends across Asia Pacific:
- On average, cash represents one-third of consumer spending in APAC, though this varies widely: cash accounts for just 6% in Australia and up to 68% in the Philippines
- APAC is leading stablecoin adoption, accelerating corporate payments, remittances, and trade settlements
- Stablecoins offer significant opportunities for cross-border payments, given that a 1% shift in stablecoins could save US$23 billion in annual fees, while a 1% shift to stablecoins from nostro/vostro accounts could generate US$100 billion freed in liquidity
Key payment issues in the Asia Pacific market in 2025
In Singapore, stablecoin innovation heats up as the Monetary Authority of Singapore clarifies the regulatory framework
In the Philippines, the country’s central bank is pushing to promote digital payments usage by eliminating fees
Digital payments are booming in Vietnam, as QR payments are posting an average monthly increase of 6%, NFC payments are also growing by 6% every month, and Apple Pay is posting an average monthly increase of 15%
While India’s UPI is dominant, with 450 million users at the end of 2024, it has plenty of room to grow: 60% of India’s consumption is still cash-based and UPI is only reaching half of the country’s Internet users
UPI also has the potential to emerge as a global payments networks: payments to merchants using UPI apps via QR codes have been enabled in Bhutan, France, Mauritius, Nepal, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and the UAE; in addition, the NPCI plans to enter 6 more countries in 2025
Japan is experiencing a flood of foreign fintech investment, as Checkout.com entered Japan and became an acquirer, Nuvei acquired Paywiser and obtained an acquiring license, and Alibaba launched Tao, a cross-border e-commerce app designed for Japanese consumers
Massive opportunities are opening in China as its financial sector becomes more accessible: Amex has joined other card networks in partnership with AliPay for inbound purchases with the app, Mastercard became the second foreign company in the card space after the 2023 joint venture with NetsUnion, and the People’s Bank of China set 20 new policies to open the Chinese financial sector in pilot cities
In Australia, there’s a real time payments (RTP) revolution as the New Payments Platform reshapes how businesses and consumers transact, Pay to becomes available to 95% of all retail bank accounts in Australia, and QR codes are being integrated with Australia’s RTP infrastructure
Explore further
Scroll down to view the webinar in its entirety so you can understand each of these points in greater context.
View the webinar:
Next steps
Contact us to create a custom research study on any of these topics—or on one of your company’s key concerns. Our data and analysis help companies:
- Identify opportunities
- Guard against risk
- Enter new markets successfully
- Defend against competitors
- Leverage industry trends into new business
And more. Reach out to see how we can help drive your success in Latin America.
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