Fintech companies suffered a difficult period, globally, last year, as soaring inflation and rising in-terest rates prompted inves-tors to pull back from the sector.Large parts of the industry struggled to raise funds and valuations were slashed. Swedish buy now, pay later provider Klarna was a case in point: the group’s valuation was cut to $6.7bn in a 2022 funding round, down 85 per cent from $46bn the previous year. Overall, global investment into fintech halved to $75.2bn, according to analytics firm CB Insights.

But Asia fintechs bucked this trend: investment reached a record high of $50.5bn last year, data from consultancy group KPMG shows. And, while the collapse last month of US-based specialist lender Silicon Valley Bank has further darkened global investor sentiment, the outlook for fintech — in Asia-Pacific, at least — is bright.

Analysts expect fintech businesses — from payments services to bitcoin — to surge across Asia as incomes climb and the adoption of digital technology expands further among fast-growing populations.