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Digital banking in Asia has entered the mainstream. Walking around, its presence is unmissable. DBS has posters on bus stops in Mumbai for its completely digital banking platform. There are adverts on the side of Singapore taxis for Pay Now, the peer-to-peer money transfer app that transfers cash instantly using the Fast platform and that is supported by seven of the state’s biggest banks.
In stores and railway stations there is frequently the option to use mobile devices to make payments, and Asia’s consumers are choosing to do so at a rate that puts New York and London to shame.
For transaction banking, this means having to embrace a new business ecosystem where payment flows become instant. Bank clients expect to manage their treasury with as much as ease as they pay for restaurant bills. Retail banking has played an unmistakably important role in forcing this change in the payments landscape.
The infiltration of digital technologies is a global phenomenon, but in Asia there has been a confluence of elements that has enabled digital payments to thrive.
Distinct difference
There is a distinct difference in the attitudes towards smartphones in the west and the east.