Opportunities and Challenges of Fintech in Southeast Asia

Chinese fintech companies have explored the Indonesian fintech market since the end of 2017, and eventually growing and expanding overseas to India, Vietnam, and the Philippines. In 2019, the fintech market started surfacing new trends, causing more companies to pay more attention to other developing countries in Africa and South America.

The ROI of products is determined by how fast advertisers can connect with high-quality users at a low cost in the shortest period of time. As demand pressure rises, cash lenders need to look for other types of channels to reach out to the cash-selling market segment.

In addition to Google and Facebook, other types of channels include:

1. SEO/SEM/ASM

Using SEO (Search Engine Optimization), SEM (Search Engine Marketing), ASM (App Store Search Marketing) can improve the search relevance ranking in websites and app stores, eventually increasing the volume of organic users to a certain extent.

2. Long-tail Traffic

Long-tail traffic, including Ad Network, DSP and Loan Supermarket etc, can be used to accelerate the growth of users due to cost advantages. Although incent traffic has always been considered to be of low quality, stimulating it can improve ranking in the App Store at a low cost, simultaneously attracting organic users to increase volume.

3. Emerging Social Media Platforms

Social media platforms like Snapchat, TikTok, Pinterest, Quora etc, are also vital channels to acquire users. Although some platforms do not focus on financial and cash-lending products, we believe that these platforms will eventually open doors as the market continues to grow and becomes more standardized. As a mobile advertising company, in order to help cash loan companies acquire more quality users, we must be attentive to opportunities and policy trends relating to these aspects in order to secure higher market shares.

4. Local Media

There are many high-quality local media resources in overseas local markets. Taking advantage of these resources to further penetrate the market will prove to be a challenge to the Marketing and Advertising department of fintech companies. The increasing pressure of traffic-buying situation force marketers to use comprehensive integrated solutions to maximize the promotion effect towards suitable types of traffic.

Industry Standardization

As compared to the irregular growth in the past two years, the market for cash loans is gradually becoming more standardized. For instance, the OJK license issued by Indonesia and the P2P license issued by India.

To regulate the cash loan market, the local government issued a series of related policies and regulations to stabilize it. It not only guarantees the rights of loan users but also increases the barriers to entry for the market.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) first released the P2P license regulatory policy on October 4, 2017: Non-Banking Financial Company – Peer to Peer Lending Platform (Reserve Bank). Only non-banking institutions NBFC can operate P2P lending business, and foreigners can 100% invest in NBFC.

In addition to the license registration application, as a mobile app product, to successfully pass the Google and Apple store audit and avoid user complaints caused by illegal advertisements has become a challenge that cash loan players must face. Compliance not only affects the stability of the product but also the brand image and value perceived by the user community.

Currently, due to a lack of experience, some of the overseas promotion of third-party service providers reduce the cost of obtaining customers by using illegal materials to reduce unit price. This model will inevitably lead to user complaints, and in serious cases, the product will be removed. Especially in overseas religious countries, it is more important to pay attention to the compliance of product promotion and respect local religious beliefs and customs, such as clothing, portraits, advertising copy, colour and composition.

Competition from locals and giants

In addition to domestic cash-selling companies, overseas local cash loans and P2P companies have gradually grown, such as Indonesian Finmas, Kredivo, Tunaiku, Indian KreditBee, mPokket, EarlySalary and so on. As local companies, they have an in-depth understanding of the local market and culture and in turn, be able to achieve good results in the local market.

At the same time, some local companies will devote more energy towards market segments and people, such as the university student market and agricultural market. Differentiated market and operational strategies are used to hold their ground in a fiercely competitive environment.

For example, Slicepay targets the college student market and has deep-binding cooperation with local Indian e-commerce and OTA, which is convenient for users to use the loan service during shopping, greatly improving convenience.

At the same time, another cash-investment company in India, Casehe, promoted the SLQ (Social Loan Quotient) system for white-collar youth groups and launched a credit system based on social attributes, which was also welcomed by young people.

In recent years, industry giants are beginning to enter the market, such as the financial payment tools like DANA of Ant Financial, which has also stirred the market in traditional areas. At the same time, in the face of the impact of the Internet financial industry, the traditional banking industry also utilized capital advantages to launch Internet financial services, which brought greater impact and adjustment to the Internet financial industry.

Regional Diversity

Cash loans began in Indonesia and gradually spread to neighbouring countries such as the Philippines, Vietnam, and India. Beginning in 2019, financial companies have begun to extend their reach to developing countries such as Africa and South America.

However, as the cultural and market environment of the new market area is far from the Southeast Asian market, the local network infrastructure, mobile phone penetration rate, user habits and consumption habits need to be re-analysed for traditional Southeast Asian companies.

Whoever stands out and reach target users in emerging markets will determine the market shares and speed of entry.

This article is provided by Novabeyond. As a mobile Internet advertising service provider that has been deeply involved in overseas markets, Novabeyond has accumulated large amounts of cash loan promotion experience. The traffic distribution covers major cash credit target areas such as SEA, South America and Africa, providing customers with customized, one-stop promotion services.