The past two decades have seen an explosion of innovation in Asia, helping the region to become a world leader in fields like robotics, electric vehicles and 5G networks. But there is one area that Asia has come to dominate more than any other: fintech. Any first-time traveler to Asia will be struck by a combination of mobile and digital wallet technology that’s a generation ahead of places like the U.S., where cash and paper checks are still common.
Asian progress is why Fortune is publishing Fintech Innovators Asia, our inaugural list of the leading companies across five segments: blockchain and crypto; digital banking; payments; wealthtech; and insurtech. The list, ranked in each category, reflects an incredible burst of innovation from China and South Korea to India and Singapore.
Some names on the list are familiar to anyone in finance. Ant Group and Tencent—and their respective payment services Alipay and WeChat Pay—have reinvented how consumers shop across Asia. Meanwhile, Binance, No. 1 in our “blockchain and crypto” category, is a global force that began as a maverick offshore exchange and now enters a new era of compliance led by a former Singaporean regulator.
Other companies on the list may not be household names globally, but have come to dominate regional markets, transforming everyday commerce in the process. Indonesia-based Dana has racked up over 180 million users, primarily in Indonesia, the region’s largest economy. And in the Philippines, homegrown platform GCash by Mynt has found a niche catering to women and the country’s enormous overseas diaspora.
Digital banks, meanwhile, have gone from being small-time disruptors to powerful forces in finance—as reflected by China’s WeBank and Korea’s KakaoBank, which have respectively notched around 400 million and 23 million customers in their respective markets. In doing so, they have changed the conception of what a bank is, as have players like Singapore’s Grab, which began as a ride-hailing service but quickly grew into a financial super-app with forays into payments and banking.
The march of fintech innovation has also unleashed an array of new services in wealth management and insurance. Firms like Tiger Brokers and Endowus are making products once only available to the wealthy and well-connected and putting them in the pockets of everyone with a mobile phone. And the region’s insurers are using the latest technologies to offer new services and new products, like Income Insurance’s “Droplet,” a microinsurance product that protects users against surge pricing on ride-hailing platforms.
Asian companies haven’t walked away with all the accolades. Western brands like Wise and Coinbase also feature on Fortune‘s list, drawn to Asia’s opportunities and new ideas. Take together, the 60 names on this year’s list are poised to continue transforming the region’s financial infrastructure—and provide a path for the rest of the world to follow.
You can view the full Fintech Innovators Asia 2024 list here.
