AHEAD of Singapore assuming the chairmanship of Asean in 2018, the country's Minister for Trade and Industry (Trade) Lim Hng Kiang announced in May that digital economy and trade internationalisation measures will be key priorities for Asean next year. With Asean ranked as the world's seventh-largest economy when viewed as a single entity, there is immense potential for the growth of its financial services to benefit everyone in this digital economy.

Part of this commitment of the digital economy is to encourage people to adopt new forms of financial services that many households and businesses may not currently have. The digitisation of financial services, coupled with high Internet penetration rate and proliferation of smartphone adoption in the region, has created the perfect conditions that make it easier and cheaper to save, spend, give and borrow.

The rise of fintech (financial technology) is also an amazing opportunity for markets in South-east Asia to leapfrog traditional financial services and move directly to the most innovative smartphone databased applications to move and manage their money. Individuals and businesses can now gain access to a plethora of useful and affordable financial products and services that can help them expand beyond geographical boundaries if they so desire, and transact easily in the palms of one's hands. These greatly improve the livelihoods of the previously hard-to-reach populations and small businesses in the region, who will otherwise not have been able to be part of the global economy.