State of open banking in Southeast Asia (SEA)

Summary

Open banking across Southeast Asia is approaching an inflection point, though regulatory maturity and infrastructure readiness vary sharply from country to country. The region's financial institutions and fintechs are positioning themselves to capture growth in digital payments, lending, wealth management, and embedded finance as open banking frameworks evolve across diverse regulatory environments.

Regional integration efforts include real-time payment linkages such as Thailand-Singapore's PromptPay-PayNow connection, Malaysia-Indonesia's DuitNow-QRIS integration, and the announced Singapore-Philippines PayNow-InstaPay link, alongside cross-border settlement initiatives like Singapore's Project Nexus and national API standardisation programmes including Indonesia's SNAP framework and Malaysia's Financial Sector Blueprint. Technology shifts underpinning open finance growth range from cloud migration among core banking systems to central bank digital currency pilots such as Singapore's Project Orchid and Thailand's retail CBDC trial, alongside expanding AI adoption in risk assessment and lending.

• Banking-as-a-Service expansion and API monetisation trends across the region's licensed providers, from Singapore's growing roster of BaaS platforms to Indonesia's and Malaysia's bank-led offerings
• The role of super-apps such as Grab Financial, GoTo Financial, and Sea Money in driving financial services adoption among digitally native consumers
• Cross-border payment linkages and settlement initiatives connecting neighbouring Southeast Asian markets

For banking, fintech, and payments leaders assessing where to prioritise open banking investment across Southeast Asia, country-by-country regulatory progress highlights the business models best positioned to benefit as embedded finance, digital payments, and API-driven collaboration scale across the region's fast-growing digital economy.