Collaborate to Navigate: Driving Payment Innovation Across Borders

Asia’s digital economy is a tale of two speeds. The fast lane is the embrace of digital business models characterised by scalability and global reach, as well as the desire among consumers for instant, cost-effective experiences accessible from anywhere. The cruise lane is the financial infrastructure – that still relies in part on legacy ecosystems struggling to support companies looking to do business seamlessly across borders.

With this in mind, one resounding imperative emerged from the roundtables held in Hong Kong, Mumbai, and Singapore: industry collaboration is the key to unlock the potential of payment innovation across Asia’s diverse landscape. It’s not enough to have just the technical capabilities, financial infrastructure must be optimised so that the digital demands of businesses and their consumers are accommodated.

HSBC and the Emerging Payment Association Asia (EPAA) brought fintechs, platforms, hyperscalers, scheme operators, infrastructure providers and relevant public-sector stakeholders to form a genuine industry dialogue, work together on addressing challenges that no single organisation can solve in isolation. As you view the report and video series developed from these roundtables, you’ll encounter the state of Asia’s digital economy from multiple perspectives.

• Real-time expectations must be balanced with risk controls
• Regulatory certainty and consistency are major catalysts
• Platform-led models demand transparency and predictable settlement
• Collective defense and shared intelligence are vital against fraud and financial crime
• Interoperability is the foundation to enhance cross-border financial infrastructure

But one thing is for certain: payment innovation cannot be built in silos, and this is an invitation to explore more together to shape up the frameworks that allow innovation to scale.