Geopolitics is driving Asean bank digitalisation

IT IS no secret that super-apps and other fintechs have taken a bite out of banking’s core business in South-east Asia. Leveraging popular shopping or delivery services has allowed them to expand from singular types of transactions into all kinds of financial services. The trend has made digital wallets central to regional spending.

But at the end of March, the Asean Finance and Central Bank Deputies Meeting also put an economic-security spotlight on digital transactions.

Asean’s financial leaders have called for greater reliance on local currencies, and that implies accelerating digitalisation for regional banks. The kind of instantaneous cross-border settlement that the March meetings outlined means regional banks will need to shift more operations into the cloud. Legacy systems can’t do the job.