Fintech banks - List of biggest NEOBank in Southeast Asia
Fintech banks are technological banks, in which people can solve banking problems with technology and don’t need to go to the branches of banks for many troublesome procedures.
It gives 2 types of fintech banks: NEOBanks and digital banks and FinFan discussed both types of fintech banks in our articles.
Today, in this essay, let’s point out the list of NEOBank and digital banks in Southeast Asia.
- Digibank of Singapore
A mobile-only bank, Digibank was launched by DBS Bank, one of Singapore’s leading financial institutions.
The DBS Digibank app was designed to make banking simpler, smarter and faster for customers. Digibank offers 24-hour customer service via an artificial intelligence-driven virtual assistant. Indian officials have called its debut a “WhatsApp moment of banking.” Customers can open an account at any one of the 500 selected cafes using their fingerprint and biometric ID cards.
- Timo (Vietnam)
Timo is the first Digital Bank in Vietnam, operating since January 2016. Through a partnership with local bank VP Bank, Timo provides a comprehensive set of tools supporting their financial needs with banking service essentials. Users can manage their bank accounts easily and conveniently through the Timo mobile app or send money to friends just by using their phone numbers.
First launched in Ho Chi Minh City in early 2016, Timo expanded to Hanoi later that year. In March 2017, Timo began offering insurance products through a partnership with Sun Life Vietnam.
Vietnam’s first digital bank Timo – which stands for “time is money” – has a fast-growing client base, highlighting the appetite of Vietnam’s millennial generation for all things mobile. Their story reminds us of successful US digital-only banks such as Moven and Simple.
- Jenius (Indonesia)
Jenius is a mobile banking channel created by Bank Tabungan Pensiunan Nasional (BTPN) and launched in 2016. Jenius isn’t a bank per se, but rather a digital banking platform provided by the bank. Users must have a bank account with BTPN before they can use Jenius.
Among the unique features of Jenius is $Cashtag, which allows peer-to-peer money transfers. Users can also personalize their bank accounts. Another unique feature is One Touch which authenticates account owners using their fingerprints. Jenius users can also send and request money from each other.
Could Southeast Asia use the same NEOBank or digital bank?
That is hard because we don’t use the same money just like the European region (even in European, they don’t use the same NEOBank).
Moreover, the technical development level of each nation isn’t the same when the technology in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam has developed well in the decade, while other countries like Laos, Timor Leste, etc. have an underdeveloped technology background.
How can people in Southeast Asia exchange money with each other faster?
We use some technological factors to make exchanging money easier.
- Using API
Each NEOBank has its own API, and we can have a contract with each other to integrate these APIs across each other but keep some information secure.
With this contract, we become agents of each other and when customers use cross border exchange money service of one side, they will see the other brand name on the website, app, etc.
For instance, the collaboration between FinFan and Wings of Cambodia in recent times. When customers want to take a cross border payment from Cambodia to Vietnam through the Wings, they will use the service of FinFan (the FinFan logo will appear on their apps) to connect with some banks in Vietnam that FinFan collaborates with.
- Using e-wallet aggregators
If both sides have their own e-wallets, then the e-wallet aggregators are the best solutions.
Wallet Aggregator Platform is a comprehensive full service solution which enables acceptance of digital wallets at physical retail locations by consolidating and aggregating multiple wallets on a single platform thereby providing a single stop window for digital wallet acceptance.
Wallet Aggregator Platform provides a wide range of core wallet payment processing features that help ensure wallet transactions are processed securely, completely at every stage starting from origination to authorization.