Alternative finance and digital payments
In Asia, most fintech adoption is driven by alternative lending and digital payments. In Singapore, the development of fintech has been partly realized through the growth of new lending options via platforms that connect borrowers and lenders, opening new investment opportunities beyond the traditional financing channels. This allows businesses faster access to funding because it is directly connected to a large and active community of investors. This segment is dominated by crowdlending activities between business professionals, with an increase in the value of funding and deals completed in recent years.Digital payments are principally geared towards digital commerce and mobile payments. With a large mobile internet penetration rate and a national strategy of Smart Nation and digitalization of business, e-payments are a major part of the country's fintech growth. The Covid-19 pandemic has also accelerated the development of e-commerce and the adoption of cashless payments. The government supports this type of innovation with initiatives like PayNow, which facilitates money transfers through a collaboration of several banks, retailer businesses, and NFIs to send and receive between bank accounts and e-wallets instantly and easily. A regional collaboration based on this system has also been established with Thailand between PayNow and PromptPay, the world's first real-time payment system coupling.