S-E Asia's imminent Fintech boom needs a robust IT and data centre support infrastructure

CASHLESS payment options and e-wallets seem to have proliferated every part of our lives these days - from paying for ride-hailing rides to online shopping, buying groceries, watching movies and even getting food at the local hawker centre. The convenience of paying with a quick swipe of our fingers seems to have made a large number of us converts to these new modes of payment.

Apart from bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, fintech is also powering much of the financial services industry through such things as algorithm-based portfolio management, insurance, stock-trading apps and websites, and so on. With Frost & Sullivan predicting Singapore to become 82 per cent cashless by 2022 and a concerted effort by governments in the region to go cashless, a fintech boom in South-east Asia might be imminent.

Singapore has taken huge proactive steps to position itself as a hub for fintech firms in the region. With Singapore's central bank taking the lead in organising the world's largest Fintech Festival two years in a row and playing host to over 400 fintech firms, it is safe to say that the republic is now the fintech capital of South-east Asia.